Let me begin by extending my congratulations to you, the Class of 2004; you made it! We will always have a special bond, you and I, because your first year at CC was my first year. And next September will literally and figuratively find us both a long way from Concord-Carlisle. We both are setting forth into the unknown future; we both are going through a rite of passage. We share a bond, and in light of that I hope you will forgive me a few more minutes of your time to add a few words to Mr. Flight's.

Class of '04, today is your day, and you should be proud of what you have accomplished. Enjoy this day. But I'd like to ask you to take a look behind you for a moment; look at the people who have stood behind you all these years. Your families and friends have prepared you for this day; it is their day, too.

Take a look around you; you come from communities that have helped prepare you for this day, and it is their day, too.

Take a look beside you; your teachers and your school have prepared you for this day; it is their day, too.

You are well prepared.

As Mr. Flight has so eloquently shown, today marks your transition into the world of adult privileges, privileges that not only mark your freedom, but also privileges that are born of freedom. You have been given the means with which to manage the freedoms that await you. You have been given the means to manage the personal freedom of setting your own schedules, you have been given the means to manage the intellectual freedom of higher education, and the means to manage the social freedoms of an open and democratic society. But you have also been given the means to safeguard these freedoms.

If you'll forgive my indulging a cliché, as the saying goes: freedom is not free.

Twenty-nine years ago, almost to the day, I sat metaphorically in the same seat as you. Barely one month earlier the last helicopter had left the American embassy in the city that was then called Saigon. At my graduation I did not have to face putting on a uniform and going overseas. In 1975 it seemed as if our nation might finally become the just, honorable, equitable--and peaceful--country so many of us believed that it could. I'm afraid that we did not do a very good job with what we were given. For that, I am sorry.

You are stepping into an adult society that seems confused, even chaotic. America is more divided--politically, socially, economically--than at any point in the past 35 years. Americans your age--and older--are putting on uniforms, taking up arms, and traveling to foreign countries at the behest of their government. Jobs, the Environment, Civil Rights; is there anything that seems certain any more?

Yes.

I am certain that you, your generation, will be able to take the world that you step into and make it better. Over these four years, I've glimpsed what you are capable of, and I have more hope than at any time since I sat in your place. I know you can become the next "greatest generation".

You will be able to make a start on this by voting: those of you from Concord will able to do that this coming week; all of you this fall. Freedom is not free; we pay for it by voting, by staying informed about the world we live in, by paying taxes, by supporting the institutions--such as public schools--which ensure that generations to follow will be able to enjoy those same freedoms.

In the years ahead, enjoy your freedom, but make the most of it. Freedom demands responsibilities, remember, and you can handle those.

Thank you.