In that 1970s classic by Richard Bach, the idealistic character Johnathan Livingston Seagull reminded us that:

"There's a reason to life! We can lift ourselves out of ignorance, we can find ourselves as creatures of excellence and intelligence and skill. We can be free! We can learn to fly!"

I've always enjoyed that story because the seagull reminds me that we can be more than we are-that we are limited only by ourselves. But as you all step out of this protected and nurturing environment into the "Real World," I want you to leave with more than simply self-assurance, more than the cliché that "the world is your oyster."

I wish for you the gift of deliberateness.

And, in particular, as you make career, life, and love's choices, make them with two things in mind: First, do that about which you are passionate, and don't settle for less. If you spend your life working, playing, and loving passionately, all else will fall into place.

Second, make a difference. The events of September 11 taught us nothing if not that the common man or woman can change the world.

In the words of Henry David Thoreau:

"I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, to discover that I had not lived."

Congratulations Class of 2001!