Learn English Justin Trudeau Diversity doesnt have to be a weakness with BIG subtitles

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it that’s y’all I am very happy to be

here with you today

deeply honored thank you for that kind

introduction IOB Andi it’s wonderful to

see you again I’m so grateful for the

honor you and NYU have given me today

now you know you may not know but Andrew

is an honorary Canadian and British

Columbian because like me he studied at

the University of British Columbia back

in the day it makes me proud that Canada

was part of Andrews formation just as

NYU has helped form so many amazing

Canadians including two members of my

own staff I’ve actually told that a

hundred and eighty of the NYU class of

2018 are Canadians hello welcome my

friends

I have to say to be here now speaking

with all of you in Yankee Stadium one of

the greatest places in one of the

greatest cities on earth is more than a

little humbling my friends you are now

NYU graduates the best and the brightest

you have great potential and

possibilities and therefore you have

enormous responsibility too so today I’d

like to talk about the nature of both

those things and I’d like to offer you a

challenge one that I think is essential

for your future success as individuals

and as the leaders that you are becoming

among the many things I admire about NYU

is that about a fifth of the students

are international

and a similar proportion are the very

first in their families to go to college

this group is truly diverse in every

possible way and I think that is an

extraordinarily valuable and important

thing when I graduated in the early

1990s I went on a trip around the world

with a few good friends who actually

remained good friends to this day which

is a sort of a miracle we trekked and

travel mostly overland from Europe to

Africa to Asia and that remains one of

the great formative experiences of my

life it was an amazing adventure

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was also an important a really important

contributor to my continued broader

education because it forced me really

for the first time as an adult to meet

engage befriend people whose views and

experiences ideas values and language

were very different from my own see when

a kid from Montreal meets a Korean

fishermen living in Mauritania Ruffins a

Russian veteran of their Afghan war or

shopkeeper in his family living in

Danang interesting conversations always

happen now maybe some of you have talked

about doing something like a great trip

like that after graduation but I’d be

willing to bet one of the fur

things you heard was a warning you can’t

do that in this day and age it’s not

safe but here’s my question is it really

just the issue of physical safety that

makes our loved ones so anxious at the

idea of us getting out there or is it

the threat that if we look past our

frames the frames of our own lives of

our own communities structured values

and belief systems to truly engage with

people who believe fundamentally

different things we could perhaps be

transformed into someone new and

unfamiliar to those who know and love us

see there’s no question that today’s

world is more complex than it was in the

mid-1990s there are serious and

important problems that we’re grappling

with and will continue to grapple with

but we are not going to arrive at mutual

respect which is where we solve common

problems if we cocoon ourselves in an

ideological social or intellectual

bubble

now we can see it all around us there’s

a peculiar fascination with dystopia in

our culture today you see it everywhere

on film and TV but the truth is that

unbalanced we have the good fortune to

live in a time of tremendous possibility

and potential a time when it is within

our grasp to eliminate extreme poverty

to end terrible diseases like malaria

and TB and to offer a real chance of an

education to everyone on this planet but

for us to move forward to keep moving

and moving forward we have to do it

together all together

humanity has to fight our tribal mindset

we go to the same church cool you’re in

my tribe you speak my language

you’re in my tribe you’re at NYU alumni

you’re in my tribe you play pokemon go

you’re a vegetarian you like the Yankees

you go to the gun range you’re

pro-choice tribe tribe tribe si but of

course it’s not the belonging part that

is the real problem

it’s the corollary you are part of my

tribe and they are not whether it’s race

gender language sexual orientation or

religious or ethnic origin or our

beliefs and values themselves diversity

doesn’t have to be a weakness

can be our greatest strength now often

people talk about striving for tolerance

now don’t get me wrong there are places

in this world where a little more

tolerance would go a long way but if

we’re being honest right here right now

I think we can aim a little higher than

mere tolerance think about saying I

tolerate you actually means something

like okay I grudgingly admit that you

have a right to exist just don’t get in

my face about it and hope don’t date my

sister there’s not a religion in the

world that asks you to tolerate thy

neighbor so let’s try for something a

little more like acceptance respect

friendship and yes

even love

why does this matter because in our

aspiration to relevance in our love for

our families in our desire to contribute

to make this world a better place

despite our differences we are all the

same and when you meet and befriend

someone from another country or another

culture who speaks a different language

or who worships differently you quickly

realize this and here’s my main point

and the challenge I’m offering you today

our celebration of difference needs to

extend to differences of values and

beliefs to diversity includes political

and cultural diversity it includes a

diversity of perspectives and approaches

to solving problems see it’s far too

easy with social media shaping our

interactions to engage only with people

with whom we already agree members of

our tribe

well this world is and must be bigger

than that

so here’s my request as you go forward

from this place I would like you to make

a point of reaching out to people whose

beliefs and values differ from your own

I would like you to listen to them truly

listen and try to understand them and

find that common ground you have a world

of opportunity at your fingertips but as

you go forward from here

understand that just around the corner a

whole different order of learning awaits

in which your teachers will come from

every station in life every education

level every belief system every

lifestyle and I hope you will embrace

that you have been students you will

continue to learn all your lives but now

it is also time for you to become

leaders

in every generation leaders emerge

because they one day awake to the

realization that it’s not up to someone

else to fix this problem or take up that

cause it’s up to them so now is the time

for you to lead leaders now I’m sure

that’s a word that’s been tossed around

you and at you quite a bit over the past

few hours days weeks and years leaders

of tomorrow leaders of today but what

does it mean what attributes does a 21st

century leader need to have what do

people need most from their leaders

today and tomorrow now I think you need

to be brave really brave and I know when

you think of courageous leaders you

think of those folks who stood

implacably and fearlessly anchored in

their sense of rightness willing to pit

their ideas against all comers against

the slings and arrows aimed their way

well I don’t think that’s brave enough I

don’t think that’s good enough for what

our shared future will ask of you I

actually don’t think it’s ever been good

enough see let me tell you a bit about

wilfred laurier a promising young lawyer

at the end of the 19th century who would

go on to become my second favorite prime

minister he was raised and educated as a

proud Catholic french-canadian an

exemplary representative of one side of

the two identities that had come

together to found

just a few decades before the two

solitudes the other half being

english-speaking Protestant and fiercely

loyal to the British crown accommodated

each other

cooperated together and generally put up

with each other to build our country but

still felt all too well

the divisions and fault lines that had

led them through almost a millennium of

tensions and wars between English and

French it was impressed upon young

Wilfred by his teachers and elders that

he must stand up unflinchingly for the

values and the identity of his heritage

those beliefs and approaches approaches

that were his birthright and would be

his legacy that they told him was

leadership but Wilfred grew to believe

otherwise he realized that it’s actually

easy to stand fixed rooted in the

conviction that you are right and either

wait for others to come to you or wait

for your chance to impose your rightness

on others he saw that it’s actually

harder to seek compromise to dig deep

into yourself your ideas and convictions

honestly and rigorously to see where you

can give and where you do need to stand

while opening yourself up to the other

point of view to seek out and find that

common ground and that remains Wilfred

Laurier political legacy more than a

hundred years later to let yourself be

vulnerable to another point of view

what takes true courage to open yourself

to another’s convictions and risk being

convinced a little or a lot of the

validity of their perspective now that’s

scary discovering that someone you

vehemently disagree with might have a

point might even be right but it

shouldn’t be scary or threatening

particularly to all of you who have

worked so hard these past years to

pursue truth to learn to grow being open

to others is what has gradually led

Canadians to the understanding that

differences can and must be a source of

strength not of weakness and I say

gradually because 20th century Canadian

history is filled with counter examples

and terrible setbacks that were still

trying to remedy today most notably the

systemic marginalization and oppression

of indigenous peoples we’re not perfect

of course but that sense of openness

respect for other points of view and

acceptance of each other really does

underpin our approach as we try to solve

the great problems of our time and not

because we’re nice but of course we are

but because by bringing together diverse

perspectives you get a much better shot

at meeting those challenges and that’s

how we come back to you and the leaders

the world needs you to be leadership has

always been about getting people to act

in common cause we’re going to build a

new country we’re going to war we’re

going to the moon it usually required

convincing

or coercing a specific group to follow

you and the easiest way to do that has

always been through tribal contrasts

they believe in a different God they

speak a different language they don’t

want the same things as we do but the

leadership we need most today and in the

years to come is leadership that brings

people together that brings diversity to

a common Clause this is the antithesis

of the polarization the aggressive

nationalism the identity politics that

have grown so common of late it’s harder

of course it’s always been easier to

divide than unite but mostly it requires

true courage because if you want to

bring people around to your way of

thinking you need to first show them

that you are open to theirs that you are

willing to enter into a conversation

that might change your mind show respect

for their point of view and you have a

better chance of actually having them

listen to yours and regardless of what

happens you will have had a genuine

exchange that focused on understanding

not on winning a debate or scoring

points and you will both be improved for

it now let me be very clear this is not

an endorsement of moral relativism or a

declaration that all points of view are

valid female genital mutilation is wrong

no matter how many generations have

practiced it

anthropogenic climate change is real no

matter how much some folks want to deny

it but here’s the question do you want

to win an argument and feel good about

how superior you are or do you actually

want to change behaviors and beliefs see

it’s been pointed out that one of the

many differences between Abraham Lincoln

and Jefferson Davis was that Davis

preferred to win a debate while Lincoln

would rather win the war and that’s the

question do you want to win an argument

or do you want to change the world with

malice toward none and charity toward

all let those words of this country’s

greatest president guide your ambitions

your hopes for yourselves your families

your country your planet there is no

shortage of cynicism and selfishness in

the world be their answer their antidote

I am abundantly optimistic about the

future because of you it is yours to

make and mold and shape the world

eagerly awaits indeed requires your

ideas your initiative your enterprise

your energy your passion and compassion

your idealism and your ambition but

remember that true courage is the

essential ingredient in all your efforts

congratulations class of 2018 now go

change the world let’s see