Work hard, be true to yourself, embrace diversity and seize the moment.
It’s the same advice graduation speakers have offered for ages, yet every year some addresses stand out. Some are powerful. Some are poetic. Some are political.
This year, Nikki Haley, U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, spoke at her alma mater Clemson University in South Carolina on May 10 delivering her own life lessons.
“Beware of social media,” Haley warns. “It’s almost as if it was invented to destroy gratitude. Everyone presents their most carefully edited lives on Twitter or Instagram. We all do it, right? Posting the best pictures of the most exciting places we go and the most interesting things we see.”
“But our social media lives aren’t the real world. Real life is usually messier,” Haley continued. “And whether we mean to do it or not, the fake lives we live on social media can evoke a kind of envy that is a lack of gratitude, that is very damaging.”
“You should be hopeful — there is very little you can’t achieve in life if you put your mind to it. And you should be grateful. Not just because you have been given so much. But because you have so much to give,” said Haley.
Some advice we can all use!
The Associated Press contributed to this article.