希拉里演讲

Thank you so very much. I am absolutely delighted and honored to be here with all of you for this commencement. I want to thank Dr. Steinberg for
this honorary degree. I want to thank my longtime friend and longtime member of the board here, Roger Tilles. I want to thank all of you associated with this great university. And I especially want to thank the faculty, the administration, but most of all I am here to say congratulations to the class of 2006. You have worked hard to get here. You have studied, you have taken exams, you have spent four sometimes more years getting your bachelors degrees. Many of you are getting a graduate degree after having been in the world of work. You have an astonishing number of degree programs. C.W. Post offers some 235 degree programs and so represented in this audience of graduates are so many different talents and experiences and I am so proud to be among the very first to wish you well as you leave this beautiful campus as you travel in a hundred，a thousand different directions and as each of you works hard to hold onto the sense of possibility and achievement that you have so richly deserved and earned.
Your team is the Pioneers, after all. A new generation of young pioneers making a difference. New technology that hasn't even been dreamed of, let alone invented. Taking on new responsibilities and I hope you will stay here on Long Island. I hope you will stay in New York. I hope you will do everything you can to make this a place that is still vibrant and growing and I pledge to you I will do what I can to make Long Island affordable. A place to live, work and raise a family for generations to come. You know, this beautiful place, this long island has almost become a victim of its own
success. Housing prices, taxes, the cost of living. We have to make sure that our young people as well as our teachers, our police officers, our firefighters have a place to live where they want to be. Some of you will go far from here and you will remember this campus and the entire university with great appreciation I hope because you are so well equipped now. And never forget that even though most of the people you know, that you socialize with, that you're friends with are more than likely college graduates, that is not true of the vast majority of Americans yet. So you have been given a gift and with it comes a responsibility.
You know in 1999 when I was thinking off running for the Senate, I did not know what to do. You know some days I thought it was a good idea, most days I thought it was a horrible idea. And some days I said, I'm not going to do it I'm absolutely totally sure I'm not going to do it." and something would happen and I'd say, "OK, I'll listen to the people who are trying to persuade me to do it again." Well in March of 1999, I was really thinking hard because I had to make a decision. And there were a lot of things to consider. Obviously, no first lady had ever sought public office before. I had obviously never run for office before. I was looking for some sign, something to make it clear that I should do it or I shouldn't do it, kind of like the push that I got from my mother all those years ago to stay in college and see it through.
You know, often our most fear some competitor is ourselves. We struggle with all of the internal doubts and anxieties, fears for the future concerns for the world. Sometimes when I look at what's happening in the world, it's hard to imagine going out and doing anything of meaning. But we can do it and not only that, we must.
America needs you to grab hold of this moment. To dare to compete to do the best you can and to help make our country the best it can be and I promise I'll do what I can as a senator representing this extraordinary wonderful state, to help you in every way possible. So today, after you've accepted your diploma, but before you leave this place, please thank your family for guiding you to this moment. Thank your professors for showing you a new world. Thank your friends for exploring that world and finally remember what this day feels like. Cherish it always. Go for it. God speed the world awaits you. Thank you all very much.。