Good afternoon and welcome, family, friends, teachers, and administrators.

But most importantly, welcome and congratulations to my fellow graduates of the Fort Lee High School class of 2016. Take a deep breath. Let out a sigh of relief. You’ve done it. And now I am standing up here trying to fish nuggets of wisdom out of my very extensive seventeen-year-long life experience to bestow upon you. I’m going to apologize in advance, because, just when you thought you had escaped the classrooms, just when you thought you wouldn’t have to suffer through any more endless lectures, I’m going to give you a science lesson.

So, throughout my life there’s been this one little tidbit of trivia that I’ve always carried with me in the back of my mind, because it’s impossible to forget. 

You could fit the entire human race in the volume of a sugar cube.

Of course, this statement could sound a little misleading, so let me explain. You’ve probably heard this before, but if an atom were the size of a football field, the nucleus -  carrying almost all of the mass of an atom- would be the size of a marble. All matter is 99.99999… anyway, a lot of nines percent empty space.  And so, if you removed all that empty space in all the people existing on this planet right now, it’d take up less space than a sugar cube.

That image of a sugar cube made out of every person I ever knew, and then a couple billion more, has stuck with me ever since. I keep going back to it, because if you think about it, everything that physically exists, all the atoms that make up our planet, our galaxy - they’re all made out of more nothing than something.

So what I’m here for today is to tell you that you, too, are overwhelmingly made out of empty space. And that, at times, the world will feel like that too, with you being a tiny little atom. There will seem to be a chasm of emptiness - a universe - between you and others, whether that distance be physical or emotional. Sometimes it will seem like you could cry out into that vast openness, and your echos would fill the air for miles, and no one would hear you. Sometimes that isolation will seem greater than you can bear.

At that point, you may think to yourself, maybe I am more nothing than something.

And yet that little something makes all the difference. 

Despite being literally the smallest thing in the universe, the atom has the potential to build, to reshape itself, and to create bonds with other atoms to make something greater than the sum of its parts - as do all of you sitting before me. What I mean to say with this convoluted analogy is, despite whatever difficult times you may face in the future, don’t ever forget that you are surrounded by an endless supply of people who can bond with you and support you. 

To extend the analogy even further, let me remind you of something we all learned in chemistry class - hopefully. Remember baking soda and vinegar, or salt on ice? Reacting brings out characteristics of elements that wouldn’t have revealed themselves otherwise.

So maybe you, too, are explosive, or maybe you get really bubbly when you meet someone just like you. Maybe you spark and erupt into a brilliant green. Maybe you burn slowly, leaving traces of yourself behind wherever you go. Whatever it is, there are so many things you have yet to learn about yourself - and you just can’t do it alone. Just by embracing who you are, you will be surprised at how willing others are to create bonds with you. Always have faith in the strength of the relationships you hold with others, as well as the ease with which you can make new ones. And this goes for everyone in your life - your friends, your parents, siblings, relatives, your teachers - the minor characters, the sidekicks, perhaps the nemesis as well. 

Without them, we might not even be sitting here at graduation. We wouldn’t be the people we are today. 

So yes, according to science, maybe we all are more nothing than something. But that little something, when multiplied by all the people who touch each one of our lives, makes all the difference. 

And that makes for a pretty amazing sugar cube. 

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大概翻了一下中文

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正当你们以为逃离教室时，以为你不用再被永无休止的演说折磨时，我将会给你上一堂科学课。

我一生中一直有一个奇谈妙论在我脑后挥之不去，因为简直不可能忘记：你可以把整个地球上的人全部装在这么小的一块方糖的体积里！

当然这样说可能有些坑爹, 所以让我解释一下。你可能听过，如果一个原子相当于一个橄榄球场的话，那么原子核-携带原子大部分质量的那部分-只相当于一个玻璃球那么大。百分之99.999 -后面无数个9-的空间是空的！

所以如果你能把这个星球上所有人类的空间移掉的话,它所占的空间还不到这块方糖。

这块方糖就是由我认识的所有人组成的，再加上几十亿的人！ 这个画面从此就萦绕在我的脑海里抹不去了。

我经常回放这个画面，因为如果你仔细想想，这整个星球，整个银河系，一切物质存在的东西，组成它们的原子更多是由“空”组成。

所以这就是我今天在这里要告诉你的事：你也是由极多的“空间”组成的！ 整个世界也是如此，而你不过是小小的一个原子。

似乎在你和他人之间相隔着一个空洞的裂口-一个宇宙- 不管是物质的还是情感的距离。有时你会觉得你想在那巨大的空间里呐喊，你的回声会穿到几英里外而无人能够听见。有时这种孤寂让你难以承受。

那时你可能会觉得自己什么都不是。

但是那小小的一点就会让一切都不一样了。

尽管原子几乎可以被称为宇宙间最小的东西，原子却有自我建造，自我修复的能力，还能和其他原子一起制造出比自身更为神奇的东西-坐在我面前的你们！

我用这个令人费解的比喻来表达的意思就是，不管你未来会面临多大的困难，永远不要忘记你周围有很多与你关联并支持你的人们。

再把这个比喻延伸一些，让我提醒你在化学课上学到的东西-记得汽水和醋，或者冰上的盐吗？不同元素本身不会出现的现象在化合反应中却能产生。

所以也许你，是可以爆炸的，也许你遇到同类的人就会起泡。也许你会发光，喷出绿色的焰火。

也许你慢慢燃烧，在身后留下一串印迹。 

不管是什么，你还有很多对自己不了解的事，你也不能独自一人去做。拥抱你自己，你会惊讶地发现有多少人愿意和你发生关联。 对于你和他人的关系一定要有信心，同时也要相信自己可以有新的关系。这包括了你生命中的每一个人-你的朋友，你的父母，兄弟姐妹，亲戚，老师-还有那些微不足道的小人物。也许还有我们的敌人。

没有他们，我们甚至不会坐在毕业坐席上，我们不会成为今天的我们。

是的，根据科学，我们也许都是“空”的。但是那末微小的一点，乘以所有影响我们生命中的每一个人，改变了一切。

那就做成了一块非常奇妙的方糖！