Closing Ceremony Speech

This is the full text of the speech I gave at the graduation ceremony. I amended it on the fly here and there, but basically it's the same:

Administrators, Colleagues, Students, Volunteers,

It doesn’t seem possible that four weeks ago, we all sat in this very room, anxious to begin the Hanyang International Summer School program of 2010. We were nervous, some of us, jet lagged, many of us, excited, all of us, to embark on the international education of a lifetime.

Students, you have spent four weeks cramming your heads with formulae, theories, practices, technical diagrams. You’ve written more than you thought possible in a four-week span. You’ve learned how to mike up an interview, how to format a screenplay, and how to work in a team where not everyone shares the same native language.

You’ve seen some of Korea’s most prized historical areas, learned the history and pride of a people who have developed the strength and han to endure any and everything. I hope you have learned from each other as well as from your professors, sharing your views with other students. This is truly an experience that will continue to resonate within you for months, even years to come. Sometimes it will surprise you – the change that has occurred that you may not even recognize at this moment.

You might find yourself reaching for new experiences after this summer. You might realize that there is always more than one way to understand a situation, a reaction, a word, a gesture. You may discover that despite all the pressures of exams, final projects, and loads of writing, you will miss this place like you’ve missed no other.

Professors, I hope I can speak for us all when I say that it has truly been a privilege and an honor to work with these bright, energetic, funny, talented students from all over the world. Their hard work will do more than earn them grades; it will change their futures forever, and hopefully, they might just remember us when they remember their time in S. Korea.

Programs like this one are, in my estimation, an essential part our future. A future we can believe in, one that promotes cross-cultural dialogue and which fosters a recognition of how our differences can become our strengths, not our weaknesses. I’m sure you’ve heard it said that we are all the same. I would like to respectfully disagree with that notion. Biologically, yes, of course, we are far more similar than different. But our cultures, our languages, our ideas about what it means to be human, to be an adult, to be a child, a father, a daughter…these are the ideals that often separate us because we can’t grasp how anyone could possibly understand these basic concepts of life any differently from our own views. This is why culture shock exists. We are NOT all exactly alike. But, if we can embrace that, and seek to understand the value in these differences, then we can begin to create understanding where there was ignorance, tolerance where there was hatred. We may even decide to adopt the ideals, values and concepts that another culture espouses once we understand them on their own terms, as opposed to simply contrasting them with our own perspectives.

You young people have heard the message before, I’m sure: you are the future. I would add to that: you have the power to co-create a future that we all need, based on what you’ve learned here and what you will continue to learn throughout your lives. Together, we have shared this experience, so we are bonded, and we have a responsibility to carry forward what we’ve gained this summer. I want you to look around the room and recognize that you are now part of something larger than yourself. You are now part of the international community.

So don’t forget the lessons you’ve gleaned on this campus, in this city, in this country. Don’t forget the way you feel right now, this very moment, and the way you felt that first day of class. Don’t forget any of it. This is the gift that Hanyang University has given us, to live our lives with more awareness of this human race, and of our place in the world.

To those in the Office for International Cooperation, I salute you for of your hard work and joyful dedication to your students and professors. Thank you, everyone, for making unforgettable memories here at Hanyang University this summer.

I wish everyone a safe journey to your homes in the coming week, and I hope we will one day meet again.

Komapsumnida.