A commencement is a time of joy. It is also a time of melancholy. But then again, so is life.

From a viable economy to the full funding of Headstart, from a clean environment to true equality for women, from a strong military to a commitment to racial brotherhood, from schools that are honored to streets free of excessive violence.

That's a good question. Let me try to evade you.

That sense of sacredness, that thinking in generations, must begin with reverence for this earth.

You are Americans. You love this country. Together we are entrusted with the principles that represent mankind's greatest political and social achievement.

It was a myth that's often perpetuated at commencement that holds that only hope and promise lie beyond the halls of academe. Don't worry, be happy. Everything is fine.

This land, this water, this air, this planet - this is our legacy to our young.