美国联邦参议员陆天娜在瓦萨尔学院毕业典礼英语演讲稿.docx

1、美国联邦参议员陆天娜在瓦萨尔学院毕业典礼英语演讲稿美国联邦参议员陆天娜在瓦萨尔学院2019年毕业典礼英语演讲稿Thank you to Acting PresidentChenette, my dearest friend and the person who invited meGerry Laybourne, theboard, the faculty at Vassar, all of the proud parents that are here,ouralumnae and our alumni, and all the distinguished guests. And to th

2、e VassarClass of 2019 many congratulations.Vassar truly stands as a beaconof hope and opportunity that continues to inspire all of us.You have shown astrong sense of justice, community, and bold activism. Although I knowthere is always more work tobe done, you have shattered many glass ceilings here

3、.womenhave always beenin leadership you are advancing LGBT equality and acceptance, and you dohavea campus thats diverse in more ways than ever before!The education that you receivehere at Vassar is a precious opportunity, one that tens ofmillions of youngpeople across the world are denied every sin

4、gle day due to poverty,violence,prejudice and injustice.But I know that someday we canactually change that with students like you leading theway. Students who stood up to the bigotry of theWestboro Baptist Church. You did not standquietly by. You created a nationalconversation. You raised over $100,

5、000, and you made yourvoice heard, inspiredaction in others, and produced real results.My hope for this class is thatthis determined courage, this spirit of activism, this fierceopposition tohate will be the rule, not the exception.So Ive come here to ask youtoday, each and every one of you, just on

6、e question: How areyou going to takethe lessons that youve learned here at Vassar, and carry on this legacyofmaking a real difference?I hope that each one of you findsthe opportunity to do public service, and truly have animpact on the lives ofso many others.So I want to tell you all alittle bit abo

7、ut my own journey to public service. I was very luckybecause Igrew up in a family that had a very strong role model. The role model wasmygrandmother. She started her career as a young womanshe never went tocollegesheworked as a secretary in our state legislature in Albany.She had this very bold idea

8、 thatwomens voices should be heard. There were very fewwomen in elective office 75years ago. She wanted to have a say, and she wanted to have animpact.And she knew somethinginstinctively that all of us know now, that to speak in one voice isveryimportant, but to speak along with many voices is far m

9、ore powerful. She she asked all thewomen in thelegislature and all the women she knew in Upstate New York to get involvedinpolitics.Together they created anorganization of activism, where these women ran campaigns forabout fiftyyears. They did all the door to door work, all the envelope stuffing, al

10、l thekinds ofthings it takes to win modern day campaigns. And that is why they were able to have avoice.They were able to elect peoplewho shared their values, who shared their concerns, and wantedto have the sameimpact on their community that they did.So what that taught me as a younggirl watching h

11、er is that not only do womens voicesmatter, but what you dowith your time matters. Grassrootsactivism matters. Fighting to make adifference matters.After I went to college and lawschool, I saw myself working in New York City in a big lawfirm, and I watchedour First Lady, then Hilary Rodham Clinton,

12、go to China.Now if you remember, she went toChina in 1995, and she gave her historic speech onwomens rights. She said,“Let it be known that human rights are womens rights and womensrights arehuman rights once and for all.Now I was incredibly inspired byher at that moment because Id been to Beijing,

13、I hadstudied there, I hadlearned Mandarin, and I knew howpowerful it was for her as the First Ladyto be giving that speech at that timein that place to that audience. They were still killing girlbabies in thecountryside and I know that she was making a dramatic impact on the worldatthat moment.And I

14、 thought to myself, what amI doing with my life and am I making a difference? And Ithought if I was goingto ever be with her at that conference in Beijing with her, I would havehad tobe involved in politics. And thats what spurred me to get off the sidelinesand focus onmaking a difference. And thats

15、 when I engaged in politics.So of course I followed in mygrandmothers footsteps. I started working on campaigns. Istarted organizingother women and doing the tough work it takes to elect candidates. And themore I got involved, the more Irealized that I really love grassroots activism, and I decided

16、Iwanted toleave the law and do some form of public service.I tried all sorts of ways to getthere, and my way wasnt clear. First I tried the U.S.Attorneys Office. I didnot get the job. Then I tried a bunch of charities in New York. I didntevenget an interview.The Hillary Clinton decides torun for Sen

17、ate, and I say, “This is my chance! I will get a jobon her campaign.”I couldnt get a paid position, so I couldnt afford it.So I went to a large event, andour then-secretary of housing and urban development, ournow-governor AndrewCuomo, was giving a speech, a speech not unlike this about public servi

18、ce.And I went up to him afterwards and I said,“Well, Mr. Secretary, Ive been trying to get intopublic service, and its notas easy as you say.”Andrew being Andrew, our greatgovernor says, “Well, would you move to Washington?” Andof course, determined,I said, “Yes, I will move to Washington.” Truth be

19、 told, I had no interestin ever moving to Washington. But, I did in fact take that opportunity, andI wound up goingto Washington and serving as his special counsel.Now, never in my life have Igotten out of bed as quickly as I did over those few months,because I lovedhelping others. And when theadmin

20、istration lost the next election, there wereno more jobs inWashington. And so I thought long andhard. And I said, “Could I run foroffice?Could I actually serve?” And over tWhy shouldnt I serve? Why shouldnt I make that jump? So I talked to a friend of minewho is apollster. His name is Jeffrey. Hes s

21、till my pollster. And I go to him and I say, “Jeffrey,couldyou just look up this district for me? Im thinking of running in Upstate New York whereIm from.” And he looks it up, and he says, “Hmmm. That is a two-to-one Republicandistrict.You have no chance ofwinning.”And I thought, really? No chance?

22、“What happens if I run the perfect campaign? Cant Iwin then?” He said, “No.” He said that there are more cows thanDemocrats in that district. Isaid,“Well, what happens if I raise two million dollars and really get my messageout?” He said, “No, Kirsten, Imsorry. You just cant win.”I said, “Well, what

23、 happens ifthis guy gets indicted? Hes a troublemaker. I could surelywin then.” And he said, “Well, it depends what he getsindicted for.”Well, the story goes, I did winthat election. And it was something thatno one thought waspossible. In fact,even the New York Times called me a “dragon slayer” beca

24、use it was such atoughdistrict to win.So that taught me a few things.It taught me to always challenge conventional thinking.It taught me to think and dream big andcertainly never give up. And the truthis, theresnothing too big for any one of you here to achieve. You just haveto believe in that dream

25、, evenif no one else but your mother believes in itwith you. Because you can go as far asyour visionwill take you and as far as your hard work will take you.So now youve heard the beginningof my story. I am far more interested in your story. Idlike to know what yourpath will be? What will you accomp

26、lish in your life? What will you setout tochange?I challenge you to refuse toaccept that things cant change simply because others tell youso. I hear thatexcuse every day in Washington, and it makes me even more determined to findaway.I am incredibly humbled to servein a Senate seat once occupied by

27、giants in our Americanhistory: my mentor,friend and trailblazer Hillary Rodham Clinton, and the brilliantscholar-turned-politician Daniel Patrick Moynihan. And, the iconic civil rightshero, Robert F. Kennedy.RFK once quoted George BernardShaw and said, “There are those that look at things theway the

28、y are, and askwhy? I dream of things that never were, and ask why not?”I love those words, and I thinkthey apply so much to all of us here today. There are thosewho look at all ofyou as Generation Y. I look at you and see Generation Y-Not.Your generation is poised, likenone other in history, to chal

29、lenge every single notion ofequality, justiceand opportunity for all.You have a history of saying “whynot!” here at Vassar. In 1861, the CivilWar was about tocommence when Matthew Vassar asserted “why not create awomens institution for learningequal to mens” - a thought that seemedabsolutely revolut

30、ionary, even dangerous to some, adream that was fullyrealized here.By 1969, Vassar College, in asign of its strength, made the decision to become acoeducational institution,rejecting an invitation to move to New Haven and join forces withYale,declaring: “why not become a coeducational institution wh

31、ere strong womensvoices areheard and men who are comfortable with strong womens voices areheard equal to them.”Men like Bill Plapinger, yourboard chair from the class of 1974 sitting right here, thelegendary class of1974 that led you to this important next stage. And Bill seems to havesurvivedthe ex

32、periment more or less.So because of such groundbreakingleadership, we have actually achieved educational parityin this country. Morethan half of our college graduates and our advanced degrees are given towomen.But the question is, how far have we come in reaching our goal of economic orpoliticalparity for women.Looking from my commencement in1988 to now, there were only two women in theSenate when I graduated. Todaythere are 20. There are only 18 percentwomen in the House ofRepresentatives.W