Speaking at the Naval Academy’s graduation ceremony in Annapolis on Friday, Biden stated that the class of 2022 is especially well-equipped to change the world due to the graduates’ confirmed means to navigate uncertainty. “You confronted added challenges to keep a way of mission and neighborhood and function when a worldwide pandemic pressured … actually all the pieces to change,” Biden stated.
That adaptability has ready graduates to make sound, knowledgeable choices in an “unsure world,” Biden added, noting that the selections that leaders make will quickly turn into “extra consequential than ever earlier than.”
“You’re graduating at an inflection level, not solely in American historical past, however in world historical past,” Biden stated. “Things are altering so quickly that the subsequent 10 years will probably be the decisive decade of this century as a result of they are going to form what our world appears to be like like and the values that can information it — not simply in the fast future, however for generations to come.”
In addition to adaptability, Biden highlighted respect and inclusivity as necessary leadership traits for young people to lean into, arguing that they are particularly helpful proper now as a result of the world is realigning. In the previous, international locations allied with different international locations based mostly on geography and battle, he stated — however now, it will depend on values, particularly ones that prioritize people over energy.
“We’re residing by way of a worldwide battle between autocracies and democracies,” Biden stated. “That’s what you are graduating into … a world that greater than ever requires sturdy, principal, engaged American leadership. Where America leads not solely by the instance of its energy, however the energy of its instance.”
The president acknowledged that the class of 2022 additionally faces a steeper set of challenges than most graduating lessons — together with financial turmoil, worldwide battle and (*3*). But the leadership skills they’ve already discovered, even unknowingly, might give them a greater capability to finally change the world for the higher in the coming years.
“No era of graduates will get to decide what world they’re … going to graduate into,” Biden stated. “It’s already been fashioned for you, however you will need to change it.”
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