This is honestly and for today a little inspiration for all of the new graduates out there.

It's a weird time to graduate from college or even high school.

It's just a weird time to make one's way in the world.

In part that's because of the tremendous uncertainty in the economy and the job

market. But also, maybe equally, it's because of the strange cultural moment that we're living in.

It's a culture that seems to undercut all of the cliche messages you typically hear at graduation.

Message is like, you can change the world.

You could bend the arc of history.

You can make a difference.

Here's what I mean.

From one corner of the culture,

people insist that the individual stands no chance against structural and systemic maladies.

And from the other, people say that we're in inexorable decline as a civilization, that

decadence is everywhere return, and that America's Day in the Sun has passed.

Both wind up arguing against the possibility of creating new things and new worlds.

I think that kind of perspective, whether it's born of ironic detachment or cynicism, is a road to nowhere.

I also think it's just plain untrue.

I believe that individuals with tremendous willpower

can do things, great, shocking, inconceivable things. Like end a

world war or create life-saving vaccines or build a spaceship to go to another planet or create a new currency or even

build an app that allows you to stay in strangers apartments. How can we recover

the adventurous, optimistic, audacious, forward-thinking, risk-taking attitude

...