Thank you, Dean Cardie, and greetings to esteemed faculty and staff, parents, graduates, students and friends.
In my day job I have the dubious distinction of being the person named at the end of the letters that go out to students alleged to have infringed copyright on peer-to-peer networks. As you can imagine, it does not make me very popular among students, and in fact a couple of years ago one student told me, "Don't you know that you are the most hated person on campus!" So share with my profound joy at the honor of being asked to speak here today.
Like a mother with a large brood of children I can say that I love all my classes and students over 25 years of teaching, and of a course here for five years now in Information Science on the culture, law and politics of the Internet. Last semester was the kind of experience that puts one in mind of the phrase "what does not kill us makes us stronger" as I endured 10 hours of neurosurgery with only a few days notice, and the students of that class, together with a terrific group of teaching assistants, rallied magnificently to the challenge learning themselves with excellent presentations and a fine round of moot court exercises. I especially thank you and recognize your outstanding work and spirit today. Although I have resisted all these years, in honor of your graduation today, and with the wish that we can stay in touch over time, I created a profile on Facebook, and I hope you will all be my friends. 
After Austin Lin asked me to speak a few weeks ago I have taken a note here and written a few paragraphs there, but yesterday sat down, turned off the phone, closed the door and dedicated myself to the task. I finished at the end of the business day, went home, and while making dinner perused the New York Times where I found the text of the speech that President Obama had given at the Naval Academy yesterday. My jaw dropped open when I read some sentences that seem lifted right out of my document, and after considering the implications of bringing a plagiarism claim against the president of the United States, I sat down to dinner with my two boys, 17 and 12, and told them what happened. Nikko, the older one, asked to look at the speech, and when I pointed out the seemingly offending section he looked at me with a little dismayed and said, "Mom, everyone says that, there is nothing new there, don't worry about it." The 12 year old, Sam, had been listening and always playing the role of sage, said, "Nikko's right Mom, we've heard that before. So tomorrow when you give the speech, you better say it well!"
If the unexamined life is not worth living, as Socrates said, then your experience at Cornell has given you the tools to have a meaningful life.
I have a brother who at birth 55 years ago suffered severe brain damage as a result of oxygen deprivation. To the best of my knowledge he does not recognize me, he cannot see, and except for a sound like "momma" that he makes repeatedly, he does not speak. Is his life worth living? Of course it is, he has good and bad days like anybody else, and it is a measure of civilized society that it protects and supports him with comfort and dignity.
When I visit him while struggling with some especially exasperating issue in my life, on occasion I have found myself thinking, "he has it better than me because he does not have to worry about 'whose in or whose out,' whether he will get a promotion or how to pay the bills." But then I come to my senses and recognize that with the tremendous choices and opportunities come obligations and responsibility.
What are those choices and opportunities that Cornell has afforded you? To be sure, a world class education in a global information economy. From Cornell in general and Information Science in particular, an enormously wide range of career opportunities fan out before you. Many of you already have jobs at Google, Microsoft, Facebook, IBM and other technology corporations; some of you will start your own innovative companies, [Please create a new model for the distribution of media on the Internet!] and many others are pursing careers in science, business, law and medicine. A fantastic social network — and I don't just mean Facebook! — complements your career choices. That network alone is worth the price of admission and will pay emotional as well as financial dividends for years to come in both your personal and professional life.
The ability to think critically is a vital instrument in the graduation toolbox. A very practical relative of mine asked me when I went to graduate school why I was "wasting my time" studying history. I explained that I wanted to do something that no one could take away from me. Sure enough, there are no guarantees in life about jobs, possessions, or even partners, but the ability to read a newspaper or a book, watch a movie, view a painting, talk with people from different cultures or points of view and formulate questions, evaluate sources, discuss issues and arrive at an informed opinion continues to bring me great joy - the same feeling I have had watching you develop those skills. There is something infectious about the excitement of deep and meaningful learning. Thank you for inspiriting in me a greater appreciation of that process; indeed you have also taught me a great deal about new applications and programs on the Internet, how you use them, and how you see this brave new world. No doubt those skills will serve you well, and I encourage you to infect others often and enthusiastically!
Finally, Cornell has refined the work that your parents, faith leaders, teachers and other role models have sought to impart to you oh these so many years: an abiding sense of life-enhancing values. Humanistic values act as an emotional and moral bulwark against an unpredictable and oft-times unfair world. We are challenged today by the extremes of commercialism, that commodifies people as well as things, and fundamentalism, that exalts violence and death in the name of religion. Even away from the extremes none of us are beyond the temptations toward exploitation or abuse, even on the small scale of our everyday lives. Without a foundational set of values it is impossible to bring the other tools of formal education, social networks or even critical thinking to bear on the essential challenges of our day.
So what are those challenges?
Here are where the obligations and responsibilities lie. From this day forward you are Cornell's ambassadors to the world. Strive for excellence not only in your work, but in your play, not only in your successes but how you handle the challenge of your failures, not only in getting what you want but thinking of what you can give. People here at home and around the globe need your intelligence, education, skills, creativity and compassion. Offer the belief in yourself and in others that you, and all of us together, can make a difference.
Today, in particular, be ever so grateful to your family for this great gift that they have given you -- not the new briefcase, fountain pen or car (although, mom and dad, a car would be nice!) -- but the intellectual and emotional tools to live a meaningful life. Never become so complacent that you fail to leave yourself open to the unexpected; if you're lucky, you might even be pleasantly surprised. Never become so jaded in the striving for money or status that you ignore the needs of others around you, especially children. Don't go to bed angry with your spouse, and if you do, wake up in the morning prepared for a new day. Remember that there is no shame in saying "I'm sorry" when a mistake has been made, that a little humor often goes a long way to defuse conflict and, as Paul reminds us, among the many exalted qualities in life: faith, hope and charity, love is the greatest one of all. [I sound a bit like Polonius in Hamlet giving advice to his son on his way to college, you remember, "neither lender nor borrower be," etc.!] Through much hard work, no doubt, you have earned your Cornell citizenship today. I sincerely congratulate you on that achievement. Now make us all proud and show us what it means to be a citizen of the world!
