The screeching whirlwind of life’s many obligations has a tendency to drown out belief in our own agency. 

Paired with the comforting shapes, sounds, and colors of our normal haunts, our ability to view the world as anything but a stagnant status quo we can’t affect is often fatally compromised.

But 2026 is a time of immense change — change that calls for the action of young people if we hope to create a more prosperous future.

Our human tendency to assume normalcy — and to assume the world will always remain how it is now — is perpetually nipping at our heels. Yet seismic change has already arrived, and will only accelerate.

Most fundamentally, that change is the climate crisis, which will force us to reevaluate the way we live. It is also in the rapid technological change and geopolitical crisis permeating our world. Right now, we still face the very real danger of economic collapse from the United States’ continued persecution of an immoral and illegal war against Iran.

As the years pass — as we enter college, and as we seek to build normal lives — these crises will only become more acute, even as the number of new crises multiplies. 

At the same time, the danger presented by those who would seek to respond to those crises with hate — and the consolidation of power in the hands of the few — will grow just as quickly.

The burden to change the world rests upon no singular person, especially those of us lacking connections and great wealth.

However, we do still have a duty to the world and each other.  

Every person — especially those of us born into the richest country on earth — must believe that we can work to bend history at least a fraction of a degree away from atrocity. 

But what does that mean?

It does not require that we dedicate our lives to a political cause, nor does it render most of our myriad aspirations immoral. Whether it be wanting a certain profession, material wealth, a family, or simply to be able to watch TV with a dog curled around your legs, none of these desires are wrong. 

If we wish to have those things, however, it will mean discarding our broader apathy. Wallowing in apathy — and believing that simply keeping our heads down will protect each of us — has every chance of letting tyranny and barbarism chart the course of humanity, or getting our species thrown into the dustbin of history.

We are young. Most of us have — or soon will have — the most freedom we ever will in our lives. We are strong, smart, and educated, or have the capacity to be. 

Students have always been at the forefront of resisting the worst impulses of society and working toward the best — albeit in our young, still-developing, fractal way. From the streets of Vienna in 1848, to Kent State University, to the present, there is a rich historical tradition of student protest. 

This is not to say that our childhoods are not immensely valuable, nor that we should not enjoy them — I have quite enjoyed mine. But as we enter adulthood, as we turn 18 and then 21, we must remember that we are not passive actors. We are not children to be dictated to anymore.

It is a transition which is exacerbated by the fact that instead of being dictated to by parents — who pretty much always believe they are doing what is best for us — our superiors are politicians, bosses, and oligarchs who often respond to crises with hate and exploitation. 

So to my fellow members of the Class of 2026: we are going to be graduating at a singularly important time in the history of both our country and humanity. 

Do not forget it. 

Don’t forget the house you want, the family you want, financial security, or that fancy PC, but don’t forget either that it is our opportunity — and our responsibility — to bend history that fraction of a degree from atrocity. Don’t forget that in these most trying times, we cannot be apathetic, and we must be an active force for change.

Remember that having those families and those futures means building and keeping a world that is hospitable to us in the first place, and achieving that will require struggle.

And for every class at La Salle, remember that while your education is not everything, it is critical. It is how you start learning not only how you will build that future for yourself, but how you will protect that future and your community from the current and arising evils of this century.