Class of 2024, it is an honor to address you.

Though I completed my formal education many years ago,

I think there are some things that endure despite the passage of time.

Courage is one of those things.

As Winston Churchill wrote almost a century ago,

Courage is rightly esteemed the first of human qualities,

because it is the quality which guarantees all others.

In your young lives, you will face challenges.

Personal, professional, even spiritual.

How will you deal with them?

I encourage you to think of the people in your lives

who have shown courage in the face of adversity and challenges.

When I think of the people in my own life who demonstrated courage, I think first and

foremost of my grandfather, the greatest man I've ever known. At the beginning of my career here in Washington, D.C. I sought

his advice and counsel. It was during my first encounters with the onslaught of criticism and public attacks.

I asked my grandfather how I should handle it.

His words were as wise as they were pithy.

Son, you have to stand up for what you believe in.

Over the years, I have seen those who know what is right,

but who are afraid to stand up when it will cost them. We all know it is

right to stand up for a friend who's being bullied, but how many of us will

choose to say nothing out of fear.

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