Mark Zuckerberg’s Commencement address at Harvard

May 25, 2017 | Popular

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President Faust, Board of Overseers, faculty, alumni, friends, proud parents, members of the ad board, and graduates of the greatest university in the world,

I’m honored to be with you today because, let’s face it, you accomplished something I never could. If I get through this speech, it’ll be the first time I actually finish something at Harvard. Class of 2017, congratulations!

I’m an unlikely speaker, not just because I dropped out, but because we’re technically in the same generation. We walked this yard less than a decade apart, studied the same ideas and slept through the same Ec10 lectures. We may have taken different paths to get here, especially if you came all the way from the Quad, but today I want to share what I’ve learned about our generation and the world we’re building together.

Mark Zuckerberg Commencement Address | Harvard Commencement 2017

Facebook Founder Mark Zuckerberg gave his address at Harvard’s 366th Commencement on May 25, 2017 at Tercentenary Theatre.

But first, the last couple of days have brought back a lot of good memories.

How many of you remember exactly what you were doing when you got that email telling you that you got into Harvard? I was playing Civilization and I ran downstairs, got my dad, and for some reason, his reaction was to video me opening the email. That could have been a really sad video. I swear getting into Harvard is still the thing my parents are most proud of me for.

What about your first lecture at Harvard? Mine was Computer Science 121 with the incredible Harry Lewis. I was late so I threw on a t-shirt and didn’t realize until afterwards it was inside out and backwards with my tag sticking out the front. I couldn’t figure out why no one would talk to me — except one guy, KX Jin, he just went with it. We ended up doing our problem sets together, and now he runs a big part of Facebook. And that, Class of 2017, is why you should be nice to people.

But my best memory from Harvard was meeting Priscilla. I had just launched this prank website Facemash, and the ad board wanted to “see me”. Everyone thought I was going to get kicked out. My parents came to help me pack. My friends threw me a going away party. As luck would have it, Priscilla was at that party with her friend. We met in line for the bathroom in the Pfoho Belltower, and in what must be one of the all time romantic lines, I said: “I’m going to get kicked out in three days, so we need to go on a date quickly.”

Actually, any of you graduating can use that line.

I didn’t end up getting kicked out — I did that to myself. Priscilla and I started dating. And, you know, that movie made it seem like Facemash was so important to creating Facebook. It wasn’t. But without Facemash I wouldn’t have met Priscilla, and she’s the most important person in my life, so you could say it was the most important thing I built in my time here.

We’ve all started lifelong friendships here, and some of us even families. That’s why I’m so grateful to this place. Thanks, Harvard.

Today I want to talk about purpose. But I’m not here to give you the standard commencement about finding your purpose. We’re millennials. We’ll try to do that instinctively. Instead, I’m here to tell you finding your purpose isn’t enough. The challenge for our generation is creating a world where everyone has a sense of purpose.

One of my favorite stories is when John F Kennedy visited the NASA space center, he saw a janitor carrying a broom and he walked over and asked what he was doing. The janitor responded: “Mr. President, I’m helping put a man on the moon”.

Purpose is that sense that we are part of something bigger than ourselves, that we are needed, that we have something better ahead to work for. Purpose is what creates true happiness.

You’re graduating at a time when this is especially important. When our parents graduated, purpose reliably came from your job, your church, your community. But today, technology and automation are eliminating many jobs. Membership in communities is declining. Many people feel disconnected and depressed, and are trying to fill a void.

As I’ve traveled around, I’ve sat with children in juvenile detention and opioid addicts, who told me their lives could have turned out differently if they just had something to do, an after school program or somewhere to go. I’ve met factory workers who know their old jobs aren’t coming back and are trying to find their place.

To keep our society moving forward, we have a generational challenge — to not only create new jobs, but create a renewed sense of purpose.

I remember the night I launched Facebook from my little dorm in Kirkland House. I went to Noch’s with my friend KX. I remember telling him I was excited to connect the Harvard community, but one day someone would connect the whole world.

The thing is, it never even occurred to me that someone might be us. We were just college kids. We didn’t know anything about that. There were all these big technology companies with resources. I just assumed one of them would do it. But this idea was so clear to us — that all people want to connect. So we just kept moving forward, day by day.

I know a lot of you will have your own stories just like this. A change in the world that seems so clear you’re sure someone else will do it. But they won’t. You will.

But it’s not enough to have purpose yourself. You have to create a sense of purpose for others.

I found that out the hard way. You see, my hope was never to build a company, but to make an impact. And as all these people started joining us, I just assumed that’s what they cared about too, so I never explained what I hoped we’d build.

A couple years in, some big companies wanted to buy us. I didn’t want to sell. I wanted to see if we could connect more people. We were building the first News Feed, and I thought if we could just launch this, it could change how we learn about the world.

Nearly everyone else wanted to sell. Without a sense of higher purpose, this was the startup dream come true. It tore our company apart. After one tense argument, an advisor told me if I didn’t agree to sell, I would regret the decision for the rest of my life. Relationships were so frayed that within a year or so every single person on the management team was gone.

That was my hardest time leading Facebook. I believed in what we were doing, but I felt alone. And worse, it was my fault. I wondered if I was just wrong, an imposter, a 22 year-old kid who had no idea how the world worked.

Now, years later, I understand that *is* how things work with no sense of higher purpose. It’s up to us to create it so we can all keep moving forward together.

Today I want to talk about three ways to create a world where everyone has a sense of purpose: by taking on big meaningful projects together, by redefining equality so everyone has the freedom to pursue purpose, and by building community across the world.

First, let’s take on big meaningful projects.

Our generation will have to deal with tens of millions of jobs replaced by automation like self-driving cars and trucks. But we have the potential to do so much more together.

Every generation has its defining works. More than 300,000 people worked to put a man on the moon – including that janitor. Millions of volunteers immunized children around the world against polio. Millions of more people built the Hoover dam and other great projects.

These projects didn’t just provide purpose for the people doing those jobs, they gave our whole country a sense of pride that we could do great things.

Now it’s our turn to do great things. I know, you’re probably thinking: I don’t know how to build a dam, or get a million people involved in anything.

But let me tell you a secret: no one does when they begin. Ideas don’t come out fully formed. They only become clear as you work on them. You just have to get started.

If I had to understand everything about connecting people before I began, I never would have started Facebook.

Movies and pop culture get this all wrong. The idea of a single eureka moment is a dangerous lie. It makes us feel inadequate since we haven’t had ours. It prevents people with seeds of good ideas from getting started. Oh, you know what else movies get wrong about innovation? No one writes math formulas on glass. That’s not a thing.

It’s good to be idealistic. But be prepared to be misunderstood. Anyone working on a big vision will get called crazy, even if you end up right. Anyone working on a complex problem will get blamed for not fully understanding the challenge, even though it’s impossible to know everything upfront. Anyone taking initiative will get criticized for moving too fast, because there’s always someone who wants to slow you down.

In our society, we often don’t do big things because we’re so afraid of making mistakes that we ignore all the things wrong today if we do nothing. The reality is, anything we do will have issues in the future. But that can’t keep us from starting.

So what are we waiting for? It’s time for our generation-defining public works. How about stopping climate change before we destroy the planet and getting millions of people involved manufacturing and installing solar panels? How about curing all diseases and asking volunteers to track their health data and share their genomes? Today we spend 50x more treating people who are sick than we spend finding cures so people don’t get sick in the first place. That makes no sense. We can fix this. How about modernizing democracy so everyone can vote online, and personalizing education so everyone can learn?

These achievements are within our reach. Let’s do them all in a way that gives everyone in our society a role. Let’s do big things, not only to create progress, but to create purpose.

So taking on big meaningful projects is the first thing we can do to create a world where everyone has a sense of purpose.

The second is redefining equality to give everyone the freedom they need to pursue purpose.

Many of our parents had stable jobs throughout their careers. Now we’re all entrepreneurial, whether we’re starting projects or finding or role. And that’s great. Our culture of entrepreneurship is how we create so much progress.

Now, an entrepreneurial culture thrives when it’s easy to try lots of new ideas. Facebook wasn’t the first thing I built. I also built games, chat systems, study tools and music players. I’m not alone. JK Rowling got rejected 12 times before publishing Harry Potter. Even Beyonce had to make hundreds of songs to get Halo. The greatest successes come from having the freedom to fail.

But today, we have a level of wealth inequality that hurts everyone. When you don’t have the freedom to take your idea and turn it into a historic enterprise, we all lose. Right now our society is way over-indexed on rewarding success and we don’t do nearly enough to make it easy for everyone to take lots of shots.

Let’s face it. There is something wrong with our system when I can leave here and make billions of dollars in 10 years while millions of students can’t afford to pay off their loans, let alone start a business.

Look, I know a lot of entrepreneurs, and I don’t know a single person who gave up on starting a business because they might not make enough money. But I know lots of people who haven’t pursued dreams because they didn’t have a cushion to fall back on if they failed.

We all know we don’t succeed just by having a good idea or working hard. We succeed by being lucky too. If I had to support my family growing up instead of having time to code, if I didn’t know I’d be fine if Facebook didn’t work out, I wouldn’t be standing here today. If we’re honest, we all know how much luck we’ve had.

Every generation expands its definition of equality. Previous generations fought for the vote and civil rights. They had the New Deal and Great Society. Now it’s our time to define a new social contract for our generation.

We should have a society that measures progress not just by economic metrics like GDP, but by how many of us have a role we find meaningful. We should explore ideas like universal basic income to give everyone a cushion to try new things. We’re going to change jobs many times, so we need affordable childcare to get to work and healthcare that aren’t tied to one company. We’re all going to make mistakes, so we need a society that focuses less on locking us up or stigmatizing us. And as technology keeps changing, we need to focus more on continuous education throughout our lives.

And yes, giving everyone the freedom to pursue purpose isn’t free. People like me should pay for it. Many of you will do well and you should too.

That’s why Priscilla and I started the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative and committed our wealth to promoting equal opportunity. These are the values of our generation. It was never a question of if we were going to do this. The only question was when.

Millennials are already one of the most charitable generations in history. In one year, three of four US millennials made a donation and seven out of ten raised money for charity.

But it’s not just about money. You can also give time. I promise you, if you take an hour or two a week — that’s all it takes to give someone a hand, to help them reach their potential.

Maybe you think that’s too much time. I used to. When Priscilla graduated from Harvard she became a teacher, and before she’d do education work with me, she told me I needed to teach a class. I complained: “Well, I’m kind of busy. I’m running this company.” But she insisted, so I taught a middle school program on entrepreneurship at the local Boys and Girls Club.

I taught them lessons on product development and marketing, and they taught me what it’s like feeling targeted for your race and having a family member in prison. I shared stories from my time in school, and they shared their hope of one day going to college too. For five years now, I’ve been having dinner with those kids every month. One of them threw me and Priscilla our first baby shower. And next year they’re going to college. Every one of them. First in their families.

We can all make time to give someone a hand. Let’s give everyone the freedom to pursue their purpose — not only because it’s the right thing to do, but because when more people can turn their dreams into something great, we’re all better for it.

Purpose doesn’t only come from work. The third way we can create a sense of purpose for everyone is by building community. And when our generation says “everyone”, we mean everyone in the world.

Quick show of hands: how many of you are from another country? Now, how many of you are friends with one of these folks? Now we’re talking. We have grown up connected.

In a survey asking millennials around the world what defines our identity, the most popular answer wasn’t nationality, religion or ethnicity, it was “citizen of the world”. That’s a big deal.

Every generation expands the circle of people we consider “one of us”. For us, it now encompasses the entire world.

We understand the great arc of human history bends towards people coming together in ever greater numbers — from tribes to cities to nations — to achieve things we couldn’t on our own.

We get that our greatest opportunities are now global — we can be the generation that ends poverty, that ends disease. We get that our greatest challenges need global responses too — no country can fight climate change alone or prevent pandemics. Progress now requires coming together not just as cities or nations, but also as a global community.

But we live in an unstable time. There are people left behind by globalization across the world. It’s hard to care about people in other places if we don’t feel good about our lives here at home. There’s pressure to turn inwards.

This is the struggle of our time. The forces of freedom, openness and global community against the forces of authoritarianism, isolationism and nationalism. Forces for the flow of knowledge, trade and immigration against those who would slow them down. This is not a battle of nations, it’s a battle of ideas. There are people in every country for global connection and good people against it.

This isn’t going to be decided at the UN either. It’s going to happen at the local level, when enough of us feel a sense of purpose and stability in our own lives that we can open up and start caring about everyone. The best way to do that is to start building local communities right now.

We all get meaning from our communities. Whether our communities are houses or sports teams, churches or music groups, they give us that sense we are part of something bigger, that we are not alone; they give us the strength to expand our horizons.

That’s why it’s so striking that for decades, membership in all kinds of groups has declined as much as one-quarter. That’s a lot of people who now need to find purpose somewhere else.

But I know we can rebuild our communities and start new ones because many of you already are.

I met Agnes Igoye, who’s graduating today. Where are you, Agnes? She spent her childhood navigating conflict zones in Uganda, and now she trains thousands of law enforcement officers to keep communities safe.

I met Kayla Oakley and Niha Jain, graduating today, too. Stand up. Kayla and Niha started a non-profit that connects people suffering from illnesses with people in their communities willing to help.

I met David Razu Aznar, graduating from the Kennedy School today. David, stand up. He’s a former city councilor who successfully led the battle to make Mexico City the first Latin American city to pass marriage equality — even before San Francisco.

This is my story too. A student in a dorm room, connecting one community at a time, and keeping at it until one day we connect the whole world.

Change starts local. Even global changes start small — with people like us. In our generation, the struggle of whether we connect more, whether we achieve our biggest opportunities, comes down to this — your ability to build communities and create a world where every single person has a sense of purpose.

Class of 2017, you are graduating into a world that needs purpose. It’s up to you to create it.

Now, you may be thinking: can I really do this?

Remember when I told you about that class I taught at the Boys and Girls Club? One day after class I was talking to them about college, and one of my top students raised his hand and said he wasn’t sure he could go because he’s undocumented. He didn’t know if they’d let him in.

Last year I took him out to breakfast for his birthday. I wanted to get him a present, so I asked him and he started talking about students he saw struggling and said “You know, I’d really just like a book on social justice.”

I was blown away. Here’s a young guy who has every reason to be cynical. He didn’t know if the country he calls home — the only one he’s known — would deny him his dream of going to college. But he wasn’t feeling sorry for himself. He wasn’t even thinking of himself. He has a greater sense of purpose, and he’s going to bring people along with him.

It says something about our current situation that I can’t even say his name because I don’t want to put him at risk. But if a high school senior who doesn’t know what the future holds can do his part to move the world forward, then we owe it to the world to do our part too.

Before you walk out those gates one last time, as we sit in front of Memorial Church, I am reminded of a prayer, Mi Shebeirach, that I say whenever I face a challenge, that I sing to my daughter thinking about her future when I tuck her into bed. It goes:

“May the source of strength, who blessed the ones before us, help us *find the courage* to make our lives a blessing.”

I hope you find the courage to make your life a blessing.

Congratulations, Class of ’17! Good luck out there.

本周四，马克·扎克伯格在哈佛大学2017年毕业典礼上致辞，并获得荣誉博士学位。12年前，扎克伯格从哈佛退学创办了Facebook，如今33岁的他是全球第五大富豪，公司价值4470亿美元。

在30分钟的演讲中，扎克伯格谈到了许多与政治相关的问题，包括气候变化、普遍基本收入、刑事司法改革，甚至“民主现代化”——也就是允许公民网上投票等等。

尽管扎克伯格公开否认竞选公职，但人们仍然对此有所猜测。在演讲最后，扎克伯格讲到自己知道的一位非法移民学生，不禁流下了眼泪。

扎克伯格再次重申了自己之前发表在Facebook上的长文的精神。“改变从身边开始。”扎克伯格说，“哪怕是全球性改变，也是从我们这样小小的个人开始的。”

以下摘自扎克伯格的演讲：

我很荣幸今天能和大家坐在一起，我想说，你们都完成了一项我永远不可能完成的学业。这次演讲结束，那将是我第一次在哈佛从头至尾完成某事。2017级毕业生，祝贺你们毕业了！

我怎么也不像一个会来致辞的人，不仅因为当年我退学了，也因为我们实际上是同一时代的人。10年前，我们也走在这林荫大道上，我们研究过同样的观念，在同样在Ec10的课程上呼呼大睡。或许我们曾走过不同的路，但今天，我想与你们分享我所观察到的这一时代，以及我们正在建设的世界。

不过，首先我想说，过去几天的生活勾起了我许多美好回忆。

你们还记得最初收到哈佛通知书时的样子吗？我记得我当时在玩游戏，急急忙忙跑下楼梯，找到我父亲，结果父亲说，要拿相机把我拆信封的时刻记录下来。如果通知书里是拒绝信，那我父亲可能会拍到一段悲伤的画面。我敢发誓说，申请上哈佛仍然是我父母至今引以为豪的事情。

你们在哈佛的第一节课是怎样的？我的第一节课是Harry Lewis教授的计算机科学。那天我快迟到了，于是随便扯上一件T恤就往身上套，之后才发现里外穿反了。我很奇怪，除了KX Jin，怎么就没人提醒我衣服穿反了。后来，我和KX Jin一起解决各种问题，他现在在Facebook担任很重要的职位。2017级的同学们，我希望你们能够与人为善。

不过，我在哈佛最美好的回忆还是遇见Priscilla。那时候我刚刚制作了一个恶作剧网站Facemash，广告委员会说要“见见我”。所有人都觉得，我要被学校劝退了。我的父母已经大老远跑来帮我收拾行李，朋友给我办了一场欢送派对。幸运的是，Priscilla来参加了派对。我们在Pfoho Belltower的洗手间相遇，浪漫极了。我说：“三天之内我大概会被开除，我们赶紧约会去吧。”

偷偷告诉你们，这招在毕业之前也很好用。

不过，最终我并没有被开除，而是自己选择了辍学。

之后，Priscilla和我开始约会。你们知道，《社交网络》那部电影说Facebook能够创立，都是因为Facemash；然而我想说，如果不是Facemash，我可能遇不到Priscilla。她是我人生中最重要的人，所以你也可以说，认识她，是我在哈佛取得的最大成就。

我们都在哈佛建立了终身友谊，有些人甚至成了家人。为此我对这里充满感激。谢谢你，哈佛。

今天，我想谈谈使命。我不会遵循标准的毕业致辞，告诉你们如何寻找自己的使命。我们作为千禧一代，喜欢跟着感觉走。我想告诉你们的是，找到目标还远远不够。我们这一代人，要建立一个所有人都有使命感的世界。

我最喜欢的一个故事是这样的，当年约翰·肯尼迪参观NASA航空中心，看到一个清洁工拿着扫把，他走过去问清洁工在做什么。清洁工回答道：“总统先生，我在为送人类上月球尽自己的力量。”

使命，指的是我们认为自己属于某项更大的事业。我们需要这些事业，我们应当追求更美好的事物。使命能够带来真正的幸福。

在当前，使命感尤其重要。我们父母一辈毕业的时候，使命来自于工作、教堂和社区。而今天，许多工作让步于科技和自动化，社区成员间的亲密度在降低。人们感觉孤独、抑郁，想要找到一些东西来填补空虚。

我曾经前往少年看守所和戒毒所看望那里的孩子们，他们说，如果他们有事可做，人生或许会不一样。我下过工厂，工人们知道，过去的工作不会再回来了，他们只能重新寻找自己的位置。

为了让社会进一步发展，我们这一世代不仅应当创造新工作，更应当重新恢复人们使命感。

我记得Facebook成立的那天，我在Kirkland House窄窄的宿舍里。我告诉朋友KX，我很高兴能让哈佛成为一个社区，但有一天，会有人让全世界实现互联。

我从未想过，这批人会是我们。我们只是年轻懵懂的大学生，还什么都不知道。外面那么多拥有强大资源的大公司，我想，大概他们中的一个会实现我的梦想吧。但我们感觉到，这个梦想是如此清晰——让每个人互联起来，于是我们一步一个脚印，不断向前发展。

我相信，你们都会有诸如此类的故事。改变世界的想法如此清晰，你觉得总有人会去做的。但他们不会，你会。不过，只有使命感还不够，你还要把它传递给其他人。

认识到这个道理并不容易。你看，我的梦想从来不是创办一家公司，而是发挥我的影响。当人们开始加入Facebook，我单纯地想，他们一定也很在乎互联，因此我从未将自己的梦想大声讲出来。

几年后，几家大型公司想要收购我们，我没有同意。我想看看，我们是否能够让更多人连接起来。当时，Facebook在开发第一版News Feed，我想，一旦上线这个功能，世界在我们眼中将是不同的样子。

除了我以外，所有人都希望把公司卖掉。在没有更高层次的使命感的情况下，我们可以说已经实现了“创企梦”。不同的想法让公司开始分崩离析，在激烈的辩论之后，公司顾问对我说，如果我不同意出售，我会一辈子后悔。人与人之间的关系开始变得紧张，原来管理团队的每一个人都离开了。

那是我领导Facebook以来最艰难的时候。更糟糕的是，这都是因为我的错误。我怀疑自己是不是只是一个有着错误想法的人，一个骗子，一个全然不知世界如何运行的22岁毛头小子。然而，又是多年过去了，现在我知道了，世界就是他妈的这么运行的，许多人是没有更高层次的使命感的。我们为大家创造使命感，推动世界向更好的方向发展。

今天，我想谈谈创造一个人人拥有使命感的世界的三种方法。一是共同挑战有意义的大型项目，二是重新定义平等，让每个人都有追求目标的自由，三是创建一个全球性社区。首先，我们来谈谈有意义的大项目。

我们这代人需要知道，尽管大量工作被自动驾驶汽车和火车取代，但我们还有更大的潜力。

每一代人都有每一代人的工作。为了把人类送上太空，30多万人为之努力，包括那个清洁工；全世界数百万志愿者为儿童接种脊髓灰质炎疫苗；数百万人参与了胡佛大坝等项目的修建。这些项目不仅为参与其中的人们提供了目标，也让我们可以骄傲地说，我们国家是可以完成伟大的事业的。

现在，轮到我们去做伟大的事业了。我知道，你可能在想：我哪知道怎么修大坝，或者怎样让100万人参与到一项工程上来。

让我告诉你一个秘密：没有谁一开始就知道如何做。想法不是天生就是成熟的，只有你一步步地实践它，它才会越来越丰满。你要做的，就是动起身来。如果我一开始就知道应该怎样让全世界人们互联起来，那我肯定不会创办Facebook。

电影、流行文化总是把我们带偏。说什么灵光一现，那都是谎话。当我们没有闪现灵光时，总感觉是因为自己不够好，这往往会扼杀萌芽中的想法。对了，你知道电影还有哪一点做错了吗？我告诉你，没人会在玻璃上写公式的。

理想主义没有错，但你要做好被误解的心理准备。所有追逐远大梦想的人都会被别人称为疯子，哪怕你最终取得了成功；任何一个想要解决复杂问题的人都会被指责没有全面理解问题，虽然能够预先知道所有事情根本是不可能的；任何一个率先发起项目的人都会被批评“太过莽撞”，因为总有人想要拖慢你的步伐。

在我们的社会里，我们经常因为害怕犯错儿不敢做大事。现实就是，我们无论做什么，未来都会有问题出现，但这并不是停滞不前的理由。

因此，我们在等什么呢？我们这代人是时候崛起了。何不考虑考虑：如何让成千上万的人装上太阳能电板，好阻止气候变化，防止地球毁灭？如何让志愿者追踪他们的健康数据，分享基因组来治愈所有疾病？我们在治疗病患方面所花的钱，是防止人们生病方面花的钱的50倍。这是不合理的，而我们能改变这一切。你想过，如何实现民主现代化，让所有人能够在线投票吗？你想过，如何实现个性化教育，让所有人都有受教育的机会吗？

这些都是我们能够实现的。让我们呼吁社会中的每一个人做好自己的工作，让我们在创造进步的同时，也创造出使命感。

所以，启动有意义的大项目是我们在创造人人有使命感的世界之前，首先应当做的事。

第二，重新定义平等，让每个人都有追求自己目标的自由。我们的父母大多一生做着稳定的工作，而我们都是创业者，无论是已经启动项目，还是正在寻找或发挥自己的作用，都很好。创业文化是我们能够取得这些进步的原因。

如今，创业文化正在蓬勃发展，尝试新想法要容易多了。Facebook不是我的第一款产品，我开发过游戏、聊天系统、学习工具和音乐播放器。我并不孤独，JK·罗琳在出版《哈利·波特》之前被拒绝了12次，即便是天后碧昂斯，在创作出《Halo》之前，也尝试过上百首歌。伟大成功的背后，是拥有失败的自由。

然而，贫富差距伤害了所有人。当你不敢实践自己的想法时，我们都输了。

我可以现在就离开Facebook，10年内赚取数十亿美元，而与此同时，还有数百万学生还不起贷款，更别说创办企业了。

我认识许多企业家，他们当中没有一个人因为担心赚不到钱而放弃自己的公司；但我也认识许多人，因为承受不起失败的后果而放弃了梦想。

我们都知道，不是有好想法或者辛勤工作就能成功的，有时也需要运气。如果我因为要养活家庭而省不出编程的时间，如果我不能肯定Facebook失败我还能过得很好，那我今天可能不会站在这里。诚实告诉自己，我们是非常幸运的。

每一代人都有对自己对平等的定义。

过去，人们为投票权和公民权而奋斗，他们制定了新政，创造了伟大的社会。现在，到我们为这一代人重新定义社会契约的时候了。我们所追求的社会，不应当只以GDP等经济指标来衡量进步，而是我们中的多少人能够找到自己的地位。我们应当为所有人提供“普遍基本收入”这一保障，让大家在创业的时候无后顾之忧。我们需要改造工作，不必为了抚养孩子而放弃工作，或医疗保险绑定在一家公司身上。我们都会犯错，因此我们需要一个不会因为犯错而感到耻辱的社会。而随着科技的进步，我们要更多地关注终生教育。

给予所有人追求目标的自由需要付出代价。我这样的人应当为此出力，你们当中的许多人也会。

这就是为什么Priscilla和我发起了Chan Zukerberg Initiative，承诺将把我们的财富用于促进机会平等。这是我们这代人的价值观，我们永远不会问自己是否要参与其中，唯一的问题是，何时开始参与其中。

千禧一代已经是历史上最慷慨的一代人了。在过去一年里，3/4的美国千禧一代都曾捐赠钱物，7／10的人曾捐钱给慈善机构。

但平等问题并非只关乎钱财。你也可以贡献出自己的时间。你只要每周拿出1-2小时来帮助他人，帮助他们挖掘自己的潜力。

或许你会想，1-2小时太多了。过去我也这么想。Priscilla从哈佛毕业后当上了老师，她让我也去给孩子们上一节课，我抱怨说：“我忙死了，要经营一家公司呢。”但Priscilla非常坚持，于是我到当地俱乐部给初中生上了一堂有关创业的课。

我教给他们应当如何进行产品开发和市场营销，他们则告诉我，被种族歧视、去监狱里探访家人是什么感觉。我分享了自己的校园故事，他们说，希望有一天也能去上大学。5年过去了，至今我每个月都会和这些孩子共进晚餐。其中一个孩子还给我和Priscilla的第一个宝宝办了欢迎会。明年，他们就要去上大学了，都是家里的第一个大学生。

我们都可以抽出时间来帮助他们，让我们赋予所有人追求梦想的自由，不仅仅因为这是正确的事情，更因为当更多人实现梦想时，我们的世界会变得更好。

使命感不仅来源于工作。我所说的第三种方法就是：创建社区。我们这一代人说到“每个人”，自然指的是全世界的人。

快速举个手我看看：多少人来自其他国家？你们当中又有多少人是这些“外国人”的朋友？我们的联系都一点点紧密了。

曾有人做过一份调查，询问全球千禧一代对于自身的身份定义，最多的答案不是国籍、宗教或种族，而是“世界公民”，这是一件不可轻视的事情。

每一代人都在扩大自己所认为的“我们”，对于我们来说，这个词语的含义已经包含全世界。

我们知道，人类倾向于聚居——从部落到国家，人数越来越多，聚居能够实现个人力量所不能实现的事情。

我们这代人所面临的最大的机遇，就是终结贫穷和疾病。

我们也知道，应对这些挑战需要全球响应，没有哪个国家能独自对抗气候变化或防止流行病。推动社会进步，需要的不是城市或国家的合作，而是全世界携手并进。

但是，我们生活在一个不稳定的时代。世界上许多人被甩在全球化身后，当我们生活艰难时，很难体会其他地区人们的苦痛。我们需从内部转变，这也是这个时代的挑战。自由、开放、全球社区的力量，正在与独裁主义、孤立主义、民族主义作斗争；知识、贸易和移民浪潮正在对抗那些逆流。这不是国家的战争，也不是思想的战争。每个国家都有赞同全球互联的人，也有反对它的人。这也不是联合国能够解决的问题，必须从地方层面开始着手。而这需要我们每个人树立使命感，生活稳定后，我们就会主动关心其他人。目前，建立本地社区是实现这些目标最好的办法。

我们都能从社区获益，无论这些社区是房屋、运动队、教堂还是乐团，它们都能让我们产生归属感，让我们知道自己并不孤独，它们能给我们扩展视野的力量。

因此我震惊，为什么在过去几十年中，社区成员数量减少了1/4之多。这些人需要在其他方面找到目标。但我知道，我们可以重建社区，重建新的社区，因为你们许多人已经身处其中。

在今天的毕业生中，我和Agnes Igoye聊过天。Agnes，你在哪儿？她的童年在纷乱的乌干达度过，而现在，她负责训练数千名执法部门官员，以维护社区的安全。

我也和Kayla Oakley和Niha Jain聊过天，请站起来。Kayla和Niha创立了一个非营利项目，为社区病患和愿意帮助他们的人搭建了一个平台。

我见过David Razu Aznar，请站起来。他之前是一位市议员，推动墨西哥城成为拉丁美洲首个通过婚姻平等法案的城市，甚至比旧金山还早。

我本人也有一个故事。我曾是住在学校宿舍的学生，一个社区一个社区地连接，每天互联一点，最终实现全世界的互联。

改变来源于我们自己。即便是全球性改变，也都开始于我们这样一个个的人。在我们这一代，能否与更多人互联，能够实现最大的梦想，都要归结到一点：创建一个人人都有使命感的世界。

2017级毕业生们，你们即将迈入一个需要使命感的世界，创建工作就交给你们了。

现在你可能在想：我真的能做到这些吗？记得我之前说的给Priscilla的学生们上课的事情吗？一天，我上完课后，我正在和孩子们讨论大学的事情，其中一个聪明孩子举起了手，说不确定自己能上大学，因为他是非法移民。他不知道大学会不会然他进。

去年，在他生日那天，我带他出去吃早餐。我想给他买一份礼物，我问他想要什么，他跟我谈起了那些还在挣扎的学生，说，“我很想要一本讲社会公平的书。”

我很动容，这个孩子完全有理由愤世嫉俗，他不知道这个他叫做家乡的国家——这个他唯一了解的地方——是否会圆他上大学的梦想。但他不为自己感到难过，甚至都没有在考虑自己。他有强烈的使命感，也必然会受到别人的追随。

由于与时事有关，我不便提及他的名字，因为我不想给他带来危险。

但是，如果一个连未来在哪里都不知道的高中生都在竭力推动世界发展的话，那么我们都应当做点什么。

在你们最后一次踏出哈佛大学校门前，当我们坐在纪念堂前面的时候，我想起一段祷文Mi Shebeirach，每当遇到困难，或想到女儿的未来时，我都会唱诵：“愿力量之源保佑我们身边的人，帮助我们找到勇气，让我们的生活得到庇佑。”

希望你们也能找到庇佑生活的勇气。2017级毕业生们，再次祝贺你们！祝你们好运！