As Socrates declared:
What is important
is not simply to live,
but to live well.
As Victor Hugo cried:
Young people, take heart.
If there are those who would make
the present difficult,
our future will be beautiful.
However much some may
be showered in renown
and receive the heated cheers
of the multitude,
this is of little concern.
For the value and significance
of a person’s life
must be assessed in its entirety.
We must ask:
Has this been a life
which brightly cast the light
of conviction and justice
over past, present and future–
like a jewel whose facets
mutually capture and reflect?
My friend!
Sharing a celebratory toast,
let us envision the immense
scale of our future,
free from sorrowful sighs,
lit by ten million sparkling
points of light.
My dear friend,
in the midst of this demented era
you advance boldly, youthfully, powerfully
along the freshly open path
of the new century,
laughing grandly with
your friends and fellows.
Sounding the bell of conviction
you gather strength and empower
one another.
There, the sun’s
pleasant, lively light awaits.
There line up
the adornments
of numberless stars.
And there await
friends passionately
sharing our convictions,
who peer with calm and easy smiles
into the deepest reaches
of our heart.
Most noble and precious
are such friends;
changeless, undiminished friends,
our eternal treasure.
Even if,
for the sake of truth,
we are together forced
to drain the bitter cup,
the time will surely come when
–now bathed in honor
and having shed all failure
or exhaustion—
we will address to all humanity
a proud acceptance speech
for the victory that is ours.
Emperors are human.
Ordinary citizens are human.
So are the powerful.
All people are.
Our true human worth
is determined by the state
of our inner life.
It is determined by
what we achieve.
And it is determined by
the nobility of the goals
toward which we strive.
