It is such an honor and pleasure for me to be back at Yale, especially onthe occasion of the 300th anniversary. I have had so many memories of my timehere, and as Nick was speaking I thought about how I ended up at Yale LawSchool. And it tells a little bit about how much progress we’ve made.
What I think most about when I think of Yale is not just the politicallycharged atmosphere and not even just the superb legal education that I received.It was at Yale that I began work that has been at the core of what I have caredabout ever since. I began working with New Haven legal services representingchildren. And I studied child development, abuse and neglect at the Yale NewHaven Hospital and the Child Study Center. I was lucky enough to receive a civilrights internship with Marian Wright Edelman at the Children’s Defense Fund,where I went to work after I graduated. Those experiences fueled in me a passionto work for the benefit of children, particularly the most vulnerable.
When I was thinking about running for the United States Senate-which wassuch an enormous decision to make, one I never could have dreamed that I wouldhave been making when I was here on campus-I visited a school in New York Cityand I met a young woman, who was a star athlete.
I was there because of Billy Jean King promoting an HBO special about womenin sports called “Dare to compete.” It was about Title IX and how we finally,thanks to government action, provided opportunities to girls and women insports.
So, dare to compete, yes, but maybe even more difficult, dare to care. Dareto care about people who need our help to succeed and fulfill their own lives.There are so many out there and sometimes all it takes is the simplest ofgestures or helping hands and many of you understand that already. I know thatthe numbers of graduates in the last 20 years have worked in communityorganizations, have tutored, have committed themselves to religiousactivities.
Community service and religious involvement being up. But if you look atthe area of voting among 18 to 29 year olds, the numbers tell a far moretroubling tale. Many of you I know believe that service and communityvolunteerism is a better way of solving the issues facing our country thanpolitical engagement, because you believe-choose one of the following multiplesor choose them all-government either can’t understand or won’t make the rightchoices because of political pressures, inefficiency, incompetence or big moneyinfluence.
Well, I admit there is enough truth in that critique to justify feelingdisconnected and alienated. But at bottom, that’s a personal cop-out and anational peril. Political conditions maximize the conditions for individualopportunity and responsibility as well as community. Americorps and the PeaceCorps exist because of political decisions. Our air, water, land and food willbe clean and safe because of political choices. Our ability to cure disease orlog onto the Internet have been advanced because of politically determinedinvestments. Ethnic cleansing in Kosovo ended because of political leadership.Your parents and grandparents traveled here by means of government built andsubsidized transportation systems. Many used GI Bills or government loans, as Idid, to attend college.
Now, I could, as you might guess, go on and on, but the point is to remindus all that government is us and each generation has to stake its claim. And, asstakeholders, you will have to decide whether or not to make the choice toparticipate. It is hard and it is, bringing change in a democracy, particularlynow. There’s so much about our modern times that conspire to lower our sights,to weaken our vision-as individuals and communities and even nations.
It is not the vast conspiracy you may have heard about; rather it’s asilent conspiracy of cynicism and indifference and alienation that we see everyday, in our popular culture and in our prodigious consumerism.
And I leave these graduates with the same message I hope to leave with mygraduate. Dare to compete. Dare to care. Dare to dream. Dare to love. Practicethe art of making possible. And no matter what happens, even if you hear shoutsbehind, keep going.
Thank you and God bless you all.
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