Learn English Justin Trudeau Diversity doesnt have to be a weakness with BIG subtitles
Bo’s rules to mold myth see a finished
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