我想从说这是你们的日子来开始。

到现在为止，我已经教书十年了。期间大部分的时光我都在旧金山初中教书。每年的这个时候，我们都将会为所有结束初中的学生举行有一个隆重的毕业典礼。并且每一年，人们总是说你们应该意识到你们的家长在一直在你们的身边，帮助你们迈出的每一步。的确如此。并且人们总是强调你们应该去感谢在学业上帮助你们成长的老师们， 也的确如此。但是此刻，我将把我每一年说过的同样的话告诉你们，2015年毕业的你们，今天是你们的光荣日，你们赢得了这一天。

一路上确实很多人都在帮助你们，但最终，若不是你们自己不忘初心的努力，没有任何的帮助可以推动你们走向如今的成功。今天不是为了你们的父母，即使他们再爱你们在支持你们，今天不是为了你们的老师，即使他们再帮助你们关心你们。今天只是为了你们。是你们经过自己的努力让自己今天可以站在这里。并且实际上，从时间，严格度和工作量上来说，比较起其他任何国家的青少年们，你们可能刚刚完成了这个世界上最艰辛的高中生涯。我真诚的祝贺你们精彩的完成了你们的工作。

用这种陌生神秘美丽的方式，这个世界有时让我觉得这些都是命中注定，看着你们，我看到了我自己。

每一天我走进教室，这里都充满着将要远离家乡亲人以及一切熟知的事物，去飞向某一所城市（西雅图）的人，（西雅图是学生们将要去学习的地方）那所城市多雨但壮美，咖啡浓郁，音乐出众，你们的梦想就在你们手中。

十四年之前，我曾经登上离开家乡的航班去开始我人生新的篇章－大学。那架航班也降落在西雅图之上。

（下面是外教在中国的感受分享）

这个世界不管公平与否，这会是你们将要面对的现实：从飞机降落在西雅图塔科马国际机场的那一刻开始,你将成为你们国家的大使。当我站在教室里的时候，站在地铁上的时候，坐在饭店里面的时候，在电影院排队的时候，在小区里的街道上遛狗的时候，甚至现在我站在这里讲话，我不仅仅是Michael，我是一个美国人。不管公平与否，我不得不清楚当陌生人看到我的时候，听到我的时候，会根据我的行为或者我的头型来评价我，他们把我当作美国的一个符号。不是故意或者真的想要，但我的每一个字，动作，微笑甚至皱眉，都向这个城市里的并不深入完全了解我国家的两亿人展示着我的整个的国家和文化。

我以一个美国符号的方式去行走，去谈话，去生活，去呼吸。我希望可以成为一个即使非常不同，也可以赢得尊重的符号。当你到达西雅图的时候，不管公平与否，你所做所说的每一件事都将为人所观察，结果会将是人们快速的得出结论：“哦，她是中国人。”

什么样的“哦”你想成为呢？什么样的印象你想带给陌生人，朋友，教授和你的邻居呢？尊重他人、诚实、努力工作、慷慨大度、公平公正、富有同情心、友好 、风趣幽默、善良、 友爱。 这些是我想让你们，你们每一个，所能成为的人，你们每一个都是，这些是你们现在应该展示给这个世界的品质。不管公平与否，你们将要遇到的人将会看到你们，从而看到整个中国。给他们一些美好去欣赏。你们不将只是Albus 或者max,fiona 或者john,linda 或者candy,你们将会成为中国。去向他们展示你们的国家，你们的文化和你们自己的厚度。

美国不是一个没有缺陷的国家。那里有很大的贫富差距，生活成本的增长，并且令人伤心的，在许多地区，历史遗留的种族种族紧张和不公正显然没有被完全的解决。但是相对于它的弊端，美国有一个伟大而闪亮的品质使之成为至今在世界上独一无二国家。它是被移民者们所创建的国家。当你踏入那里的时候，你将会成为这个多样化的，充满勇气和希望的历史中的一部分。去国外旅行，去居住在一个远离家乡的陌生国度，去寻找更好的风景，这是一个奇迹。你们拥有这样的品质－勇敢，乐观，自信和激情。我在和你们在一起的年月中一次又一次的看到你们身上的这些品格。这样的探险精神不仅仅会在美国的大学课堂上帮助你们，它将会带你们翻越过所有生活中将要面对的障碍。 它会将你带到你心带领你去的任何地方。 它将会点亮你的路途，通向不确定的今天，明天，在美国，在中国的路途，作为一个年轻的成年人走过大学的路途，五十年之后你与你的家人一起苍老，灰白并充满皱纹时的路途。

你是jefferson,书写你自己的未来。 你是哥伦布，航向一个未知的地平线。你所拥有的敢于去未知旅行，追寻你的梦想的力量是独特的，这个力量只有极少的人拥有。待在你所在的地方总是更简单的办法。但你是宇航员，傲游去了月球。如果某天你决定了回到地球（或者北京），那个力量仍会伴你左右。当你在地球的另一边感到孤独的时候，梦想者的精神，勇气，将会帮助你成功。而且它将会帮助你回到此地，回到家乡。我极度的钦佩你们。

最后，视你们为我的学生，我钦佩你们，但视你们为一个个人，我更钦佩你们。我很感激学校给我这个机会与你们一起工作了一年半的时间。

我很感谢你们的家长将你们付与这个世界。你们可能尚未意识到，对我们来说，你们比一般学生要意味着多一点点，我谨代表代表外教 Nick, Carlos和我自己。每一天我们都行走在国外，看着外国人的脸，听着外国的语言。当然这是我们自己的选择，并且我们享受它。经历一些全新而不同的事物是我们来这里的初衷。 但是我们在北京的生活与曾经的生活大大的断开了链接，地域，人民，文化，语言－英语，我们自小学习的母语。你们是我们的桥梁。我不能每天都和我的妈妈聊天。我不能和我最好的朋友通话因为他在地球的另一边酣眠。除了与你们和我的妻子，我不能和其他任何人有真正的，有深度的谈话。每一天－甚至没有意识到的，你们给我们机会去和我们的生活，文化和语言去接触。 我不能与我的好朋友通话，但我可以和你们去唱一首我们曾经一起唱过的歌。我不能与我的妈妈通话，但是我可以给你们讲一个关于她的故事。发自我深深内心的，我想说谢谢你们每一个人，我足够幸运而得以拥有的与你们的每一个对话点亮了我的每一天。 你们和我的妻子，因为遇到了你们，使我在离家如此遥远的地方依然感觉家里一般。我个人珍重且珍惜我们在一起的时光。你们曾经是我的学生，你们将永远是我的朋友。

在一起，依靠彼此，如我课堂所见那样一次再一次的去支持彼此。你们是一个部落，在一起旅行，在一起探索，永远和彼此联系在一起，因为你们曾经分享过的和即将要分享的经历。无惧，唯一，批评性的看你周围的世界，用你的知识，你的智慧，你的热情去将它变成一个更好的世界。微笑，大笑，热爱，做你自己，我已经熟知你们中的每一个人，现在去展示给世界上所有其他的人吧。

I want to begin by saying this is your day. I have been teaching for ten years now. Most of those years were spent teaching 8th Grade at Francisco Middle School, where every year, around this same time, we have a massive graduation ceremony for all of the students who are finishing middle school. And every year, there is always an emphasis on recognizing the parents who have helped you along the way every step of your life. And that’s true. And there is always an emphasis on thanking the teachers who have helped you along the way every step of your education. And that’s also true. But every year, I say the same thing I’m going to say to you, the graduating Class of 2015, right now: this is your day. You earned this. There was help along the way, but ultimately, no amount of help will push you to this kind of success unless you’re willing to put in the hours and years of hard work yourself. This is not a day for your parents, loving and supportive as they are. This is not a day for your teachers, helpful and caring as they are. This is a day for you. You are the ones who have put in the work to stand here today. And in fact, you probably just completed the most difficult high school experience in terms of time, rigor, and workload of any teenagers in any country in the world. I offer you my sincere congratulations on a job well done.

In a strange, mystical, beautiful way that makes me think the world does sometimes work the way it’s all supposed to, I look at you and I see myself. Every day I walk into a room full of people who are about to leave home and family and everything they know to go flying off to college in some city where it rains too much but the environment is spectacular, the coffee is strong, the music is great, and your dreams are within your grasp. Fourteen years ago I was getting on a plane to leave home and begin the next chapter of my life - college. That plane landed in Seattle, too.

Fair or unfair, there is a reality that you’re going to have to come to grips with: the minute your plane lands at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, you will become an ambassador for your country. When I step into my classroom, stand on the subway, take a seat in a restaurant, wait in line at the movie theater, walk my dog around my own neighborhood streets, or even stand here and speak to you now, there is a reality I need to face: I am no longer “Michael;” I am an American. Fair or unfair, I have to acknowledge the fact that when strangers look at me, listen to me, judge me by my actions, or judge me by my haircut, they are taking me as a symbol of America. Without ever meaning to or wanting to, every word, action, smile, and frown I make represents my entire country and culture to 24 million people in this city who don’t know the whole deep truth of where I come from. I am a walking, talking, living, breathing symbol of America. I want that symbol to be something people can look up to, even if it’s very different. When you head off to Seattle, fair or unfair, everything you do and say and be will be examined by people, and the conclusion, the shortcut, they’re going to come up with is, “oh…she’s Chinese.” What kind of “oh” do you want that to be? What kind of image do you want to give your new strangers, and friends, and professors, and neighbors? Respectful. Honest. Hardworking. Generous. Fair. Compassionate. Friendly. Humorous. Kind. Loving. These are the things I know you to be, every one of you. These are the things that you should now show the world. Fair or unfair, the people you are about to meet will look at you and they will see all of China. Give them something beautiful to look at. You will not just be Albus or Max, Fiona or John, Linda or Candy; you will be China. Show them the richness of your country, your culture, and yourself.

The United States is a country that is not without flaws. There is a widening wealth gap, growing costs of living, and, sadly, in many parts, a long history of racial tension and injustice that has obviously not been completely solved. But for all of its problems, America has one great shining quality that makes it unique in the world even today; it is a country that was built by immigrants. That history of diversity, courage, and hope is one that you will now become a part of the moment you set foot there. To travel abroad, to live in a strange land far from home and family in search of something better - this is a magical thing. The traits necessary to do this - courage, optimism, confidence, and passion - these are traits that you possess. I have seen them in each one of you time and time again in our months and years together. This spirit of adventure that you have will not only help you in a college classroom in the United States; it will carry you over any obstacle you face in life. It will take you anywhere your heart leads you. It will light your way through the darkness of uncertainty today, tomorrow, in America and in China, as a young adult working your way through university, and fifty years from now when you’re old and gray and full of wrinkles, with families of your own. You are Jefferson, writing your own future. You are Columbus, sailing toward an unknown horizon. The strength you have to journey into the unknown in search of your dreams is a special thing, something very few people in this entire world ever have. It’s always easier to stay where you are. You are Neil Armstrong, shooting to the moon. And if you decide someday to come back to Earth (or Beijing), then you have that strength, too. That spirit of the dreamer, the brave, the immigrant will help you succeed when you’re alone someplace on the other side of the world…and it will help you right back here at home. I admire you greatly.

Lastly, I admire you greatly as students. But I admire you ever so much more as human beings. I am grateful to your school for giving me the opportunity to work with you for the past year and a half. I am grateful to your parents for giving you to the world. But most of all, I am grateful to each one of you for being you. You may not be aware of this, but you are something else a little bit more than just a student to us. I’m speaking on behalf now of the foreign teachers, Nick, Carlos, and myself. Every day we walk around in a foreign city, with foreign faces, a foreign culture, and a foreign language. This was our own choice of course, and we enjoy it. Experiencing something new and different is part of why we came. But we spend our lives here in Beijing largely disconnected from the lives of our pasts; the places, the people, the cultures, and the language - English - that we’ve known from our earliest days of childhood. You are our bridge. I don’t get to talk to my mother every day. I can’t call my best friend when I get home from work because he’s asleep halfway around the world. I really can’t communicate - truly, deeply communicate - with anyone here except for my wonderful wife. And you all. Every day - without even knowing it - you give us the chance to stay in touch with our lives, our cultures, and our language. I can’t call my best friend, but I can show you a song we worked on together. I can’t talk to my mother, but I can tell you a story about my mom. On a deeply personal note, I want to say thank you to each of you. Every conversation I’m fortunate enough to have had with you has been a highlight of my day. You, along with my wife, are the people who have made me feel so at home in such a faraway place since I met you. And I have personally cherished and treasured our time together since I’ve had the privilege of working with you and getting to know you. You were my students. You will always be my friends.

Stick together. Lean on each other. Support one another the way I’ve seen you do over and over in class. You are a tribe, traveling together, journeying together, connected together forever by the experiences you’ve shared and the experiences you are about to share. Be fearless. Be unique. Be critical of the world around you, and use your knowledge, your wisdom, and your compassion to make it a better place. Smile. Laugh. Love. Be yourself. I already know who each one of you is. Now go show the rest of the world.