It was a BU graduate student Lu Lingzi who lost her life along with two other innocent peopleon a beautiful April day in your sophomore year while simply watching the Boston Marathon.I doubt you will ever forget where you were when those two backpacks exploded a few miles from here and knocked a city to its knees.But the initial hurt and horror gave way to something much more powerful: Boston Strong.You held each other for support and rose back up together.I may live in New York, but our city was a sea of Boston baseball caps in the weeks that followed.And when the Red Sox clinched the World Series that fall, the entire nation cheered.Yes, you bore witness to the worst of mankind, but you also experienced the best.And you will carry that with you forever.You learned what it means to be resilient, to stand side by side against any adversity.You were part of Boston Strong, and it will always be part of you.So now you're off, and I have a few final words of practical advice.Don't ever lose your enthusiasm. Don't suddenly become self conscious.Don't be that person who puts on a suit and takes off his glasses like this mid sentence because he thinks it makes him look smart.Trust me, unless you're the incredible Ed Bardley, CBS correspondent Ed Bradley, who was really cool, or maybe a TV lawyer:
