Our Generation

[Note: This is the full text of my speech at the NCCC Perry Point Class XVI graduation. It shares a lot about what service is to me and our generation's impact on the world through service and life.]

Most of us knew by the age of five what we wanted to be when we grew up. We wanted to be farmers or firefighters, architects or ambassadors. I wanted to be an Olympic swimmer.

None of us, when we were five years old, planned to be National Service Members in AmeriCorps. But here we are. We’re not in the ballet or the Olympics, but we are fighting fires and building homes. We’re traveling the Atlantic and Gulf regions in service to America. In doing so, we’re leading our generation in National Service.

Our generation was defined for us before most of us even knew what a generation was. When we were young, we were Generation Y, that amorphous group following Generation X. Later, we became the technology generation, growing up on cell phones and iPods. We got a reputation: we were the generation that had forgotten how to connect, had become so immersed in online culture that we were losing the skills of real interaction. We spoke a language older generations didn’t understand, introducing JK and LOL into their vernacular. They expressed fears that we might never leave our Nintendos and X-boxes long enough to make a difference in the world.

This year, Class XVI, we have made a difference.

As we’ve served together over the past ten months, I’ve loved seeing and reading about you in action. Let me tell you: you are amazing. Let me tell you, from serving with you this year, a few more things I’ve learned about you as a member of our wonderful class.

You are strong. 

You’ve lifted boxes, lugged lumber, and succeeded when people asked, “Really, are you sure you can get that with just two of you?”

You’re patient. 

You’ve survived ten months of living with ten other people, ten months of messy kitchens, twenty-hour van trips, and epic battles over radio stations.

You’re bold. 

You’ve climbed on roofs, crawled under houses, and overcome poison ivy. At least once this year, you feared doing something and yet, knowing it was the best thing to do, took action and got it done.

You are professional. 

In all you’ve done, you’ve carried yourself with poise and strength and repped the A to the max.

Above all else, you are compassionate. 

You’ve given the past year of your life to service, taken ten months for others, to mulch trees and dig ditches, create trails and pick up pinecones. You’ve built many houses – given people a home – and gutted out others in the wake of disaster. You’ve talked to neighbors down the street and volunteers on the site, met non-profit staff and the President of the United States. You’ve bettered lives and strengthened communities.

Our generation has been told that we’re too busy connecting online to connect in person. We IM and text, we’re told, in place of real conversation.  

This has been a year of real conversations. This year, we’ve talked and listened. This year, we’ve put aside the comforts of a settled home to travel with ten strangers – now ten friends – and share our lives. We’ve served in communities from Florida to Maine and conversed with “the locals” about everything from mosquitoes to mathematics in grocery stores, sanctuaries, and swamps. We’ve traded our cell phones for shovels and sandpaper and taken action for the members of communities across our nation. In doing so, we’ve helped define our generation.

We are the leaders of tomorrow. 

We are the next farmers and firefighters, architects and ambassadors. Our generation, armed with our cell phones and iPods, will shape the next decades of this nation. Now we have, from this year, new tools to carry into the future: hammers, shovels, and our interactions with citizens across this country which we will use to shape our communities and our nation.

My challenge to you, Class XVI, is to define our generation within your community as one engaged in service to the world around us. Shovel the snow from a neighbor’s sidewalk when you do your own; help out at your local food bank over the holidays; serve with a friend or with your team at a reunion; volunteer for a day or a week or a month both next year and every year thereafter. 

Commit to continuing the legacy of service.

Together  we have the power to raise roofs and stomp out stereotypes, build homes and strengthen communities. 

Together, Class XVI, we will get things done.