00:01It's such a joy to speak to you today, to young women around the world who aren't just poised to
00:06change the world, but who've already begun changing the world.
00:11Last month, I had a chance to speak to the 2020 class at my high school alma mater, which is
00:15an all-girls school in Los Angeles.
00:18And I said that they shouldn't see their graduation as an ending, but rather as a beginning, the beginning of
00:24a journey where they can now harness their work, their values and the skills,
00:28all the skills that they've learned, to rebuild the world around them.
00:33Now, many of you have already spent years embodying and, yes, even enacting the change you'd like to see in
00:39the world.
00:40Yet the opportunity that lies ahead for you is the same one that those graduates and millions of young women
00:46around the world have as well.
00:49I want to share something with you.
00:52It's that those in the halls and corridors and places of power, from lawmakers to world leaders to executives, all
01:02of those people, they depend on you more than you will ever depend on them.
01:08And here's the thing.
01:09They know this.
01:10They know that all of you at a younger age than any modern comparison are setting the tone for an
01:17equitable humanity, not figuratively, literally.
01:20This is a humanity that desperately needs you to push it, to push us forcefully in a more inclusive, more
01:28just and more empathetic direction.
01:30And to not only frame the debate, but to be in charge of the debate on racial justice, on gender,
01:36climate change, mental health and well-being, on civic engagement, on public service, on so much more.
01:43That's the work that you are already out there doing.
01:46Girls Up members are organizing Black Lives Matter protests around the world.
01:51You're creating films.
01:53You're creating films to encourage your peers to become activist leaders.
01:56You are reforming the criminal justice system.
02:00You are telling your school boards, we need more mental health resources for all ages.
02:04You're leading coalitions to end gun violence.
02:08You are standing up and demanding to be heard, yes, but you are also demanding to own the conversation.
02:17Another thing about those lawmakers and leaders and executives I mentioned earlier.
02:24Now, many of them, better or worse, they don't listen until they have to.
02:30Because the status quo is easy to excuse and it's hard to break.
02:35But it will pull tightest right before snapping.
02:41Women have always historically gotten a lot of, well, that isn't how it's done, or, yeah, that's an idea, but
02:45you know what, we're going to do this instead.
02:48But when do we hear that as women?
02:50We hear that in the moments that we challenge the norms.
02:55So if that's the case, I say to you, keep challenging.
02:59Keep pushing.
03:00Make them a little uncomfortable because it's only in that discomfort that we actually create the conditions to reimagine our
03:07standards, our policies, and our leadership.
03:09To move towards real representation and meaningful influence over the structures of decision-making and power.
03:18Despite what some might say this reimagining, it's not a zero-sum game where one side wins and one side
03:24loses.
03:25Not at all.
03:26It is mutually beneficial and better for everyone.
03:30Dalai Lama famously said, compassion is the radicalism of our time.
03:36Compassion means seeing the pain and suffering of others and knowing that it's our duty to try to help relieve
03:42it.
Commenti