We Americans often look to our celebrities to give us inspiration during times like these and perhaps there is no one more able to soothe our collective fears than Oscar winner Tom Hanks, who himself just recovered from the virus.
Hanks recently delivered a five minute, poignant and truly chills-inducing speech to the senior graduating class in the Department of Theatre, Dance and Motion Pictures from Wright State University in Dayton, Ohio.
He opened by telling the Class of 2020 that they are the “chosen ones”and then proceeded to tell them how that moniker is appropriate for their class.
“”You are the chosen ones because of a fate unimagined when you began your Wright State adventures. You started in the olden times, in a world back before the great pandemic of 2020. You will talk of those earlier years in your lives just that way.”
He went on to say about this class,
“You have finished Wright State during the great reset, the great reboot,” he explained. “You’ve gone from student to graduate when more has been expected of you than to just be an American. You have had to be responsible Americans. You’ve had to be good Americans, good Americans who made the sacrifices that have saved lives.”
Hanks concluded that the members of this special class are going to be the ones to build the post-virus future or as he says they will fashion the new structure and build the new realities.
And, Hanks certainly speaks for all of us when pointing out that although the future is always unclear, there is one thing that is not. “You will not let us down.” he told the graduates.
Congratulations to this class of chosen ones-the whole Class of 2020.
More to Read:
Two Special Ideas to Celebrate This Year’s Graduates Got Us Right in the Gut
Teachers Are on the Front Lines and Many of Us are Struggling
