TEXT OF ARMINE NALBANDIAN’S SPEECH
Boston Globe
May 2 2008
United States
Arminé Nalbandian delivered these remarks today at Northeastern
University’s commencement at the TD Banknorth Garden:
American author Dale Carnegie once uttered the famous words "When
fate hands you a lemon, make lemonade." I’ve always been a strong
proponent of making the best of the worst situations, but when life
handed me the biggest lemon of all just three months ago, I was pretty
sure Dale Carnegie was full of it.
I received a call late one night and when the voice on the other end
told me that my mom, a psychotherapist, had been killed on the job
by one of her patients, the world around me literally fell apart. In
the chaos of those first couple of weeks, I remember thinking back
to Dale Carnegie’s words and wondering just how I was supposed to
make lemonade out of this one.
And then something happened; I realized that there was nothing to do
but to go on. There was nothing to do but to face this challenge just
as I had faced every other challenge before. So I picked up the pieces,
relied on the support around me and made my way back to the real
world. By now perhaps you’re wondering how all of this relates to the
reason we are all sitting here today. Why bring up such a depressing
story at a time when we should be celebrating our achievement?
I’ll give you one reason; because if it weren’t for the lessons I
had learned during the past five years at Northeastern University,
there is a good chance that I wouldn’t have known the first thing
about how to take a lemon and make it into lemonade.
I’ve often wondered about the value of a true education. I have
pondered the meaning of Sir Francis Bacon’s claim that "knowledge is
power." And I’ve come to realize that the value of education is not
in the rite of passage itself, but more about the possibility for
the future.
Here at Northeastern, I have learned not just how to calculate
a margin of error or analyze Plato’s Republic, but through this
process I have learned how to think and the choice of what to think
about. Professors, administrators, mentors and staff at this university
have taught me over and over how to see the obvious, yet extract the
unseen, I have been taught how to see an issue from someone else’s
perspective, whether the issue is a disagreement among politicians
on a government policy or a disagreement between roommates over who
did the dishes last.
An old Latin proverb dictates, "We learn not at school, but in
life." As graduates of Northeastern, we have been lucky enough to learn
from both. Not only have we gained maturity through experiencing the
daily grind of a nine to five workday, but we have also learned how to
listen, how to lead and how to address an issue with thoughtfulness
and insight. Through our experiential education, we have gained not
only intellect and maturity, but we have learned how to use it. We
have taken theory and made it practical. We have learned the freedom
that comes from education. We have learned how to extract power from
our knowledge.
Our time at Northeastern has been full of great memories and moments,
the friendships we have built are for a lifetime and the pathways
we have embarked upon and the challenges we have faced are just the
beginning of this new and exhilarating phase. I have learned that
we are the generation that can mend the errors of the past. Now more
than ever is a time for progress.
Our generation is not a lost one as some claim. We are more involved
in politics than many who came before us; we care to be the change
we want to see around us. Every generation has its own challenge,
but with every new challenge we are given a new set of tools. We
have reached today with a fresh set of tools, ones named Google,
Youtube and Facebook, ones that have changed the world community and
the prospects of our future and ones that will allow us to forge new
paths in politics, medicine, art, engineering, business, science,
and in life.
We have molded and shifted this campus with our presence and
achievements; we have seen Northeastern through the ‘top one hundred’
revolution, to the opening of the first Starbucks on campus. We have
done great things for this school and now we must challenge each
other to do great things for this world.
Ladies and Gentleman of tomorrow, don’t ever forget this moment; don’t
ever ignore your thirst for knowledge, your hunger for truth. Never
ignore your ability to see both sides of the story, and to forgive,
even when it seems impossible. Never forget what your professors
and mentors at this great institution have taught you. Never look at
your experience as average — don’t think of Northeastern and only
remember the times when things just didn’t go your way — think of
what you have learned, and what you been taught.
Remember the staff member that helped you through the NU shuffle,
or the classmate who helped you get through the death of someone who
meant the world to you. Recognize the obstacles, but don’t forget
about the solutions- remember how to take those lemons and make
them into lemonade. Love what you do, never settle, be passionate
and compassionate, love yourself and those around you, talk less and
listen more, open your mind, have your own opinion and most of all,
inspire others as you have been inspired…pay it forward.
We are the future forgers of peace, curers of cancer, abolishers of
genocide, architects of industry, inventors of truth. As the great
Roman poet Virgil once said, "They can because they think they
can." Each of you sitting here today has a discoverable gift, and
let us challenge each other to settle for nothing less than achieving
the promise others see in us and we see in ourselves.
Ladies and gentleman of the Northeastern University class of 2008,
your path is yours, your story is your own, make lemonade.
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