Today we meet here, in this classroom to appreciate, take in and be moved by the speeches of our peers.
I find myself in the envious, captivating, terrifying and moving position of convincing you to take action on a goal.

As I sat and thought about what great ideal I would like to impart upon you in my speech I considered those of you who went before me. The vibrant assortment of tasks you’ve all presented to the class.

I thought about our world. I thought about the achievements we’ve created and the atrocities we’ve committed. The actions that we took, the opportunities that we passed on.

I imagined, dreamed and pictured a world where each and one of us is empowered to take action and make change. Where the smallest of initiatives grows and grows to become something so much bigger.

This world of action is a beautiful place.

And so I come to you today, to impart on you the call to act. The heroic and sometimes difficult step that simply asks of you to do something, instead of sitting back and taking no step forward. I want to talk to you about the actions that change our lives, daily. The actions that we can take to make a better world. And above all, I want to show you, that the only way we can impart change, is by starting at an individual, by starting at you.

Very recently I’ve had the privilege of listening to a distinguished speaker. I bring this up because she gave us a simple list. A mere 5 things to do that she believed were the keys to success. There was just one that I would like to relay to you today. The action, so simple, yet I can almost certainly say all of us here are guilty of it all the time. When we pass that friend, that accomplice anyone we know, why do we not always say the simplest of hello’s? That action alone would surely brighten anyone’s day. But, do you think you can make an even bigger difference? You know when we say “how are” and keep walking and the person does their best to say “oh good” and squeeze in their own obligatory “how are you”.

Stop – and have this conversation.

This action is the most basic act of care that you can show towards another person in a day. And think of all the times when you weren’t just “good”, wouldn’t it have been so nice to say “well, no, I’m not good” and have the other person listen?!

That is surely a step to a much better world. But, let me break this euphoria of happiness. Let me extend the simple hello and how are you. Suicide, a very sobering topic. According to World Health Organization it is a cause of death that leads murders and wars combined and is on a rise. From a recent seminar that I’ve attended as part of my Don training, the number one prevention method was so simple. It was to take notice of the person, to do something instead of nothing, to approach them and ask. That’s it, just do something. Anything. And that simple “hello, how are you” may very well suddenly save a life.

A great US president and a great man, John F. Kennedy once uttered the now infamous words “We choose to go to the moon. We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard”. The ultimate call for action. And yes, the call for challenging actions will have to be met too. But you’re just one person, you’re yourself – and doesn’t that make these epic efforts hard? Doesn’t it feel difficult to take action on even the speeches you’ve found your peers presenting in here? I’d like to show you that that difficulty is not an excuse to do nothing. That challenge, you, don’t have to take on all by yourself. But you can do something, and taken as a whole, that something becomes so much more.

Do you think you can help to prevent global warming, to significantly reduce energy cost and to maybe even save our planet, one day. Seems like a daunting task, but I’m here to remind you that all you have to do is just the minute something. Change a light bulb. That’s it. From a study, if just every household in the US did just that. The emissions of 800,000 cars could be offset, and 3 million more homes could have light for a year. Just one simple action, imagine.

Edward Everett Hale, a man who helped with the dissolution of slavery and the implementation of popular education said: “I am only one, but still I am one. I cannot do everything, but still I can do something; and because I cannot do everything I will not refuse to do the something I can do.”

This simple quote epitomizes my message to you. I want you to know, that you’re never too small to do something. And that doing something is always better than doing nothing. No action is too little to not spark a following, a movement and an ideal.

I want you to think back in our history, think of all the prominent events and figures. Martin Luther King, Malcolm X, Albert Einstein, John F. Kennedy, Rosa Parks, Winston Churchill and Oscar Schindler. They were all just individuals who did something and something else and then something else again, and as an entire world we know their actions and feel their effects today.

Martin Luther King once had a dream. Today, I have a dream too.

A dream of a world where we as individuals empower ourselves to take action. Where we consider no individual interaction too petty, too little, to not dive into it fully and with the utmost of attention and intent.

Where no one backs down from a challenge, that we all face together, and does nothing, when they could bite off an easy chunk and do something. Set an example that others will follow and together, the challenge will be solved.

I dream of a world where these little movements lead to a better place. And I’m telling you that for all the beautiful words and examples that we have in our history so many of them say we can. The individuals, turned leaders before us, all universally say one thing. Take action, take interest, do what you can, and out of that will come the best of things.

Thank you