Okay so I know most of you guys are probably nursing a hangover from last
night but I really need you to pay attention for the next 10 minutes it's
pretty important okay there is a question that every single person
graduating tomorrow knows the answer to some of us more certain of this question
than others and many of us actually come to Harvard to figure this out but even
if we don't know the answer it's a question that we ask ourselves often and
it's something we spend four years trying to figure out what am I gonna do
with my talents some of us are gonna change lives and classrooms around the
world reimagining how education is practiced and theorized some will use
their talents to take your patience and cure disease many are going to become
lawyers and legislators still others writers actors comics and heads of state
and I'd be lying if I didn't think about this question myself but I felt more
lost about this question this is because I like so many other students at this
university was lost about my place at Harvard whether I belonged and what I
could possibly hope to contribute to such a vast and hallowed institution I
am one of the nation's eleven point three million undocumented immigrants my
father finds work as a line cook in restaurants across New York City and my
mother finds work in beauty salons so if you've ever eaten at a Korean restaurant
or receive the mani-pedi in New York City congratulations
like it or not you may have partially subsidized the education of what Fox
News would call an illegal alien my parents are actually here today
mo- thank you, papa - don't cry I knew
early on that my talents were merely a testament to their sacrifice a product
of their original dream to secure a better life for me and so I knew most of
all that my talents were not my own they were molded by my parents labor
shaped by their bowed legs and their blistered hands my talents are
indistinguishable from their labor they are one in the same
thus this perspective I brought with me to Harvard gave new meaning to the
question of what am I going to do with my talents
I felt bound to my community I felt beholding to my undocumented people
particularly those in my home in Queens my immigration status is always affected
the way that I see the world affected the way that I envision my place in
society and by extension what I wanted to do with my so-called talents and so I
wondered what am I gonna do with my talents in the face of this impossible
question I searched for my answer at the center of all human knowledge Widener
Library to be specific under Widener there's a small yet indispensable part
of Harvard called the Pussey archives which is home to many of the private
documents of distinguished Harvard faculty I found the answer to this
question buried in the personal library of John Rawls a famous political
philosopher at Harvard who according to President Clinton helped the whole
generation of Americans revive their faith and democracy itself and this is
definitely true for me at a time when the President of the United States
believes that I don't belong here John Rawls helped me envision in America
shaped by principles of justice fair inclusion and human equality so Rawls
tells us that there's a sense in which this question we all ask ourselves what
am I going to do with my talents has hidden within it
a false assumption this assumption is the commonly held belief that our
talents are gifts of intelligence health wealth charm wit and abilities is
something we can claim as our own Rawls challenges us to question whether our
talents are something we can truly claim ownership over like D Hall plates or
that last piece of chicken breasts blow the grill closes indeed Rawls says that
one's talents are merely the product of luck an arbitrary force dispensed to
humans based on no moral standard thus he argued we must think about our
talents as a collective asset a common asset that must be leveraged as part of
a well-regulated political union ok so now to be sure some of you were thinking
but these are my talents I was the one who worked to cultivate them I was the
one who spent all those hours at Lamont and I was the one who shed sweat tears
and peppermint Rubinoff to perfect my abilities I deserve what flows from my
talents why should I think about it as a common asset like a public restroom or
John Harvard's foot now hear me out hear me out what I'm saying
is that thinking about our talents as a collective asset helps us escape the
language that often surrounds the conversations that we have with each
other at Harvard we often swim in a culture that says talented people get
what they deserve right that those with higher GPAs are smarter that those who
get punched by final clubs are cooler than those who do not that those who
work at Goldman are more brilliant than those who do not alright maybe that's my
last what isn't true but we swim in this culture that says what you get is tied
to your talents in reality our talents are products of social collaboration our
intelligence charm and abilities only blossom when others believe and invest
in us I think this is clearest at Harvard
the only thing I would venture to say is true for every single person in our
class is that not one of us could have gotten to this point on our own dining
hall workers nourish our bodies librarians and archivists preserve the
knowledge and heritage we rely on to write our papers and landscapers and
custodial staff make our campus a beautiful place for us to completely
ignore as we swipe away on tinder our TFs and professors sit down with us time
and time again to explain for the hundredth time things like how a
protease inhibitor works or why the hell Nietzsche was so angry indeed our
talents are developed through interaction with others in a web what
Rawls called a close knitted an interconnected political community
composed both of people you know but more by people you do not and once we
accept this there's no reason why the duties we have to those we know
shouldn't also extend to those we do not indeed there's no reason why the close
bonds of fellowship we often feel to our family and friends shouldn't also extend
to those we don't know in our political union and that's why Rawls is vision of
society as a political community is more than a catchphrase when we share a
society your life affects mine whether we know each other or not and we have to
evaluate this joint project by the hole because if you think about it our
particular positions within the web of society come to us most of all through
fortune not desert therefore how we treat everyone in our union not just
those who are talented is really a reflection of our personal values who we
want to care about who we want to include and who we want to protect at
Harvard we can often be blind to the fact that we have duties to one another
that demand more from us than simple
non-interference, non-interference that says i'll do with my talents what I will
and you do with your talents what you will non-interference that says we
should draw the line of membership in our society only around those who
possess talents on the contrary we have a positive responsibility to others a
duty to liberate those who are unable to wonder what am I going to do with my
talents and I know this isn't easy it's not easy because it demands that we
reject this notion that we can truly own our talents it demands that we step up
and own our good fortune enough to give its fruits away but if it's any
consolation there's a reason that the inscription facing you as you leave the
yard says depart to serve better thy country and mankind not depart to serve
better thyself and I can thus I believe truly taking this adage seriously and
taking it to heart requires us to ask ourselves a slightly different form of
the question we all know the answer to
what am I going to do for others with my talents thank you
you