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The year 2022 will not be the best to remember a commencement where the future is bright.

An invasion of a free country for the first time since World War II. Climate change that seems to alternate between setting the planet on fire and flooding it. Rampant and increasing gun violence. And, of course, an ever evolving pandemic.

Still, if we take the advice of our teachers, we should focus more on what can be done, not what can’t be done or is hopeless. A world full of problems offers the challenge of change that, if taken, can grow and spread for current and future generations.

Take the pandemic. The speed at which the initial pandemic genome was studied and the speed at which an effective vaccine was developed was remarkable, according to experts. The speed of production and distribution of said vaccine was nothing short of incredible.

While climate change’s dangers have been mounting, there also exists a movement for clean energy, reducing carbon and developing fleets of electric vehicles. Sales are through the roof. Dealers can’t find enough electric vehicles to sell. Businesses from rental car companies to hauling companies are going green.

Corporations are touting their goals to reduce or eliminate their carbon footprint.

More world unity will bring solutions to bear on all of these problems. And unity is on the rise. With the Russian invasion of Ukraine, western powers have never been more unified. Countries and their people are supplying Ukraine the things needed to survive and the weapons needed to defend themselves.

While it’s hard to see a political or policy solutions to gun violence, young people took to the streets last week to demand action. As those numbers grow, they will be hard to ignore. In time, those young people will be replacing the old white men who are beholden to the gun lobby. The people continue to be on the side of commonsense gun restrictions.

So yes, the weight of the world is heavy on the shoulders of this year’s graduates. May that weight make them stronger.

— Mankato Free Press, June 6