To the Graduates of 2021,

What a long, strange trip it’s been. You may not know where that comes from, but it’s never been more true this year.

You spent the last year and a half taking classes from home, not being sure how long it would be before you could hang out with your friends and family without the shadow of COVID-19 hanging over you.

And yet you got through it. Whatever your plans for the next few years, at worst they had to be adjusted or postponed, but not canceled.

Nobody escaped this last year unscarred and unchanged — not you or the adults around you, who were just as unsure about how things were going to turn out. You may have experienced isolation. You may have lost loved ones or you know someone who lost family. It may have changed how you see the world, made it just a little scarier than you thought it might be.

What hasn’t changed are the basics:

• Be kind to others because you don’t know what they’re going through.

• Be brave enough to ask for help when you need it.

• Be willing to say you don’t know but always offer to find out.

• Be aware of your own value and be ready to acknowledge that in others no matter your differences.

• Be generous with your time and talents. Give back to your community when and where you can.

There’s a world awaiting you and you won’t always know the answers, and neither will the people you usually depend for answers. If you remember the basics, you’ll have the tools you need to find them.

Congratulations and best wishes as you step out into your futures.