https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wta-zsoGWbw
Good morning, everyone. It is my pleasure to welcome you on behalf of the President and on my own behalf. Deans, members of our university’s faculty, Friends of ORT, dear graduates, and your families.
We are delighted to share this special occasion with you. Graduating as a professional requires skill and dedication. It requires learning to delay gratification, to work as a team, and to challenge our preconceptions. It requires determination and resilience in the face of inevitable setbacks and frustrations. You have lived up to your own expectations and those of the people who believed in you. You have every reason to be proud!
A college education is a journey of discovery. Learning means discovering—discovering more about ourselves and the world around us. Learning means gaining a better understanding of where we are, where we come from, and where we want to go. Our mission as educators is to accompany you on this journey of discovery, helping you acquire the learning and adaptability skills you will need in the future. We hope we have succeeded. We hope we were able to support you when you needed it and guide you when you felt lost.
As you know, ORT Uruguay was founded more than 75 years ago. The founders were immigrants fleeing the racism that had murdered their families, stolen their possessions, and left them without a country, without a language, and without an education. Our country welcomed them. These immigrants did not bring hatred for all they had suffered, but hope. They did not forget the families they had lost, but built new ones; they did not resign themselves to a lack of education, and ORT is their legacy.
ORT has changed significantly throughout our history, but our mission and spirit remain unchanged. Our mission is to provide educational opportunities to Uruguayans, and we are proud of what we have accomplished over the decades. But our focus is—and always has been—on the future. Our history is not a source of nostalgia but of learning. We do not know what lies ahead, but whatever the future holds, we are committed to continuing to provide the best possible education for Uruguayans.
Graduation has historically marked the end of the learning phase, but it will increasingly lose that meaning, because the rapid obsolescence of knowledge will make us all lifelong learners. As long as there is life, there must be learning, and only as long as there is learning will there be life. Education will be a continuous, lifelong process, not just a phase of youth; that is why the primary mission of universities is to provide their students with the reasons to keep learning. And that is why I want you to know that our commitment to you does not end today, but begins today.
Graduation symbolizes the end of one chapter and the beginning of a new one. The future won’t turn out exactly as you plan—because it never does—but neither should it be dictated by forces beyond your control. Don’t leave your destiny in the hands of others; choose your own path and make your own decisions. The big decisions in life are ours to make—by listening to others, but especially by listening to ourselves.
This is an election year, a year of decisions. It is neither my role nor my intention to endorse any particular candidate, because the mission of universities is not to promote political parties or ideologies, but to focus on long-term visions. However, we cannot ignore the fact that elections are essential to democracy and that they represent a form of civic engagement that sets us apart from tribal societies.
Don’t underestimate the importance of politics and voting. Politics shouldn’t dominate our lives, but we also can’t be indifferent to it, because that means others are making decisions for us. Don’t cast your vote out of tradition, tribalism, peer pressure, or slogans. Ask yourselves which parties or candidates best represent your values and aspirations. Ask yourselves which parties or candidates offer a future in which you feel included. Exercise your critical thinking; ask yourselves which candidates offer prophecies and which offer proposals. In a democracy, promises must be fulfillable to be ethical.
Let those who are asking for your vote know that you want more ideas and fewer ideologies. Let them know that you want visions of the common good that are more inclusive and less focused on parties and special interests.
Dear graduates, do not be afraid of your dreams. You cannot live on dreams alone, but you cannot live without them either. To dream is to be alive. Always choose big challenges—ones that force you to grow. Do not let risks or failure paralyze you. There are no risk-free actions, and learning is impossible without failure. Be demanding of yourselves, because that is a prerequisite for being able to demand things of others. Believe in yourselves, because if you don’t, no one else will believe in you.
Remember that life is not a race toward success; at its core, life is a search for meaning. Possessions, fame, or power may be part of a fulfilling life, but they are not what give it meaning. As Viktor Frankl, the renowned psychiatrist who survived Auschwitz, said, “We must not ask only what we want from life; we must ask what life wants from us.” And that is one of the great teachings of Judaism.
The Talmud encourages us to “repair the world.” We don’t have to try to repair the world on our own, but neither can we give up on helping others just because we can’t help everyone. To find meaning in our lives, we must ask ourselves what we can do to make the world a little better, what we can do to help those in need, and what we can build where it is needed. We find meaning in life when what we want intersects with what needs to be done.
Always keep in mind that decency should not be a one-time occurrence but a way of life. Remember what our great poet Ida Vitale wrote: “In the end, we will have only what we have given.” Remember that looking at others and through the eyes of others allows us to see the world more clearly. Precisely during this season of Easter or Passover, the Haggadah, the book read at this time, says in one of its exhortations: “Go and learn.” It urges us to step out of our comfort zones and view the world from other perspectives. It urges us not to remain stuck in what we know or believe, but to go out and get to know other people, other ideas, and other opinions. That is why our life’s quests should be based more on listening than on making ourselves heard.
Like everyone else, we Uruguayans have a lot to fix as a society. But one of the most important things we need to fix is our educational system, because an ignorant nation cannot be free. An ignorant nation is dominated by charlatans and demagogues. An ignorant nation falls prey to its own myths and fantasies. An ignorant nation cannot thrive in the information age. We can no longer grow by copying; we must progress by creating. We cannot foster a dynamic society with a rigid education system.
Rebuilding our educational system is neither a technical nor a financial problem; it is a moral commitment. Because teaching is not merely a profession; above all, it is a moral act. We Uruguayans must strive to create a new “state of opportunities” to replace the “welfare state” we sought to build in the last century. We must aspire to a society of opportunities in which all Uruguayans have access to that new and indispensable wealth that is knowledge. Because in the long run, a highly educated minority cannot thrive in a mar ignorance. An intelligent and educated nation has no limits in the age of knowledge. It is in our hands to be a small country with big dreams.
Dear graduates, today is a great day. One chapter is coming to a close, and new ones are beginning. Find your own path, but never lose sight of the fact that you are members of society. Remember that a society is stronger when it supports the most vulnerable, richer when it supports the poorest, and wiser when it educates all its citizens.
Always remember that Uruguay needs you. Succeed in Uruguay and bring success to your country. Find your own path, but know that ORT will always be your home.
Thank you very much.