"7 Billion Strangers..."

I’ve been listening to music more in an attempt to stay sane and away from so many screens, and was reminded of one of my favorite artists – John Legend. In 2014, Legend gave the commencement speech at the University of Pennsylvania and more recently, he gave the commencement speech at Duke University. He is an African-American singer and songwriter, has won a dozen Grammy awards, and I remember listening to his debut album “Get Lifted” on repeat when I first moved to New York 15+ years ago and was in need of some “lift”.

The part that struck me most about Legend’s commencement speech, was the following:

But years from now, when you look back on your time here on earth, your life and your happiness will be way more defined by the quality of your relationships, not the quantity. You'll get much more joy out of depth, not breadth. It's about finding and keeping the best relationships possible with the people around you. It's about immersing yourself in your friendships and your family. It's about being there for the people you care about, and knowing that they'll be there for you.

…

Now, I've already talked about the power of love in your work and your personal lives. But I also want to talk about how love changes the world. There are 7 billion other people out there. 7 billion strangers. I want you to consider what it means to love them too. What does it mean to love people we don't know, to see the value in every single person's life?…Professor Cornel West gives us a word for what this kind of love looks like in public. That word is justice.

The entirety of Legend’s speech is quite good, but I was most struck by the focus on love. That the root of injustice is actually a failure to love completely. To love others as we love our family. And that the key to being a better person, a better entrepreneur, a better leader, a better friend, a better anything – is love. And the key to any real social change, like what we are trying to do with Impact Network, is to see the world through the eyes of another. As we close out a Thanksgiving weekend here in the US, it was a good time to reflect on this love and what we offer to the world in the service of our students and communities.

The full text of the 2014 speech is here: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/john-legend/penn-commencement-speech-2014_b_5358334.html and 2021 speech is here: https://today.duke.edu/2021/05/john-legend-leading-love-build-healthier-and-safer-communities

-Reshma