WORLD BELONGS TO THE GENERATION NEXT





“Out of the sighs of one generation are kneaded
the hopes of the next.”

Machado de Assis

The world always belongs to the Generation Next… That’s why, it’s said – ‘Life Beckons’ …

Meaning, ‘Life Calls’!

One of the things, I have been ‘consciously’ trying to do, is to keep quiet and actively listen to my 27-year-old son as he speaks. It doesn’t mean, that I know nothing, or much less than him. It simply means, that the future no more belongs to my generation… I may live in a denial, I may suffer from my inflated ego… but, if I am honest enough, I would realize, that my time is over… and, it’s over to the Generation Next…

A defeatist attitude?

No, a realistic one, Sir!

The child will always be the father of the Man… Remember writing your school essay? Most of us never understood what that saying meant. I think, we still do not have a clue!

2020 – on whose eve Amitabh Bachchan had tweeted urging us not to get too excited about as there was only an unnees-bees ka farak – turned out to be ‘a world of difference’! So much so, that we get to read several people pleading God to delete this year from Time or reboot His system!

Jokes apart, we feel sad for the plight of students of important crossroads – tenth, twelfth, T.Y. etc. Some of them haven’t completed their exams… and, some of them have completed, but missed on their Graduation Ceremonies.  It seems, they are out ‘unceremoniously’. If that’s a negative description, let me rephrase their plight: They are out without a ceremony!

So, with this kind of reality, does Future still belong to them?

More than ever, Sir!







I had, often, wondered as to why the speech on a Graduation Day was called a ‘Commencement Speech’. Should it not be called a ‘Concluding Speech’?

At every important crossroad, Life only begins… The end is only a new beginning. In fact, the dictionary defines ‘Crossroad’ as ‘a road that crosses a main road’. Hence, a speech at a Graduation Ceremony aptly called ‘a Commencement Speech’… And, aptly, to deliver this speech someone from my generation is counted upon… Yes, even though it’s evident, that Future belongs to the Generation Next…

Apparently, YouTube has been presenting some interesting Commencement Speeches for the Class of 2020 – the Global Class. Understandably, these are virtual speeches… and, they are extremely effective, inspiring and far-reaching. In this Blog, I wish to present four of them… By Michelle Obama, Barack Obama, Sundar Pichai and Lady Gaga…

Just sit back and listen, whether you are a fresh Graduate or a seasoned one, or a school/college-dropout… For, the world always belongs to the Generation Next… and, Life always beckons!



















GERALD D’CUNHA

Pic.: 1. Kaique Rocha 2. www.youtube.com

Videos: . 1. Better Make Room 2. Obama Foundation

              3 & 4. YouTube Originals


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