Professional Clip 26: Elie Wiesel, 2006 Dartmouth College Commencement

My young friends, this century is not mine. It is yours. If there is hope—and there must be—you will shape it and you will justify it. All I can do is offer you my memories and experiences to help you in your quest so that the years ahead will enable you to confront the inevitable fear and trembling which are inherent in the human condition in its fight for better times. Granted the world you inherited is far from being safe and peaceful. But, it is your task, and maybe mine still, to improve it. Remember one person's courageous humanist initiative or moral commitment can make a difference, and it has always [been] one person [who] save[d] one person or one family in those dark times. And they remain my idols. For even then, those who did so restored the honor of the human race and of humanity. Well, of all Albert Camus' sayings, I prefer the one which comes at the denouement of his novel The Plague: “When everything is done, after all is said and done,” said Camus, “there is more in man”—which means in the human being—“to celebrate than to denigrate.” And so today, my young friends, let's celebrate our new beginnings, let's celebrate man's power to transcend tragedy and his or her dream to overcome the oppressors who will to conquer and dominate. But, as you know it or not, in some parts of the planet, there are people who need you, and they are waiting for you. Thank you.