去年夏天我在蒙古实习的时候，我接到坦桑尼亚两个同学的电话。他们有一个非常紧急的问题：如何使用他们的洗衣机。因为所有的标签都是中文的，而谷歌一直将一个大按钮翻译为“旋转幽灵模式”。一个印度人和一个泰国人叫一个在蒙古的中国人破译坦桑尼亚的洗衣机，我们一起在哈佛学习。

那一刻让我想起了我小时候曾经相信的事情，即世界正在变成一个小村庄。我记得有人告诉我，我们将是第一代结束人类饥饿和贫困的人。

我在哈佛的课程是国际发展，课程的设立正是基于“人类命运休戚与共”这一美好愿景。

当我遇到来自32个不同国家的77个同学时，我所认识的地图上色彩斑斓的图形变成了活生生的人。他们有欢笑、梦想和在剑桥市度过漫长冬天的毅力。我们穿梭于彼此的传统之间也肩负起对方的使命。

全球挑战突然变得私人化。世界上如果任何一个女人买不起一片卫生巾，我便不配称富足；如果一个女孩因惧怕骚扰而不敢踏入校门，那便是对我尊严的践踏；如果一个小男孩死于一场他从未发动也从未理解的战争，我的一部分也和他一起死去。

但如今，这个互联世界的承诺正被割裂、恐惧与冲突所蚕食。我们开始相信那些思想相异、投票选择不同或信仰有别的人，无论他们远隔重洋还是近在咫尺，都不仅仅是“错误”的。我们错误地认为他们是“邪恶”的。

但未必只能如此。我从哈佛学到的不仅仅是微积分或回归分析，更是学会与不适共处，认真倾听，在困难时期保持柔软。因为我们如果还相信共同的未来，让我们不要忘记那些被我们贴上敌人标签的人，他们也是人。看到他们的人性，我们也找到了自己的人性。

我们的崛起不在于证明对方错了，而在于彼此不弃。

2025届毕业生们，当世界陷入旋转的“幽灵模式”时，请记住，当我们离开校园时，我们带走的是每一段相遇，跨越贫富、城乡、信仰和怀疑。

他们说着不同的语言，做着不同的梦，然而他们已经成为我们的一部分。你可能不同意他们的意见，但要紧紧握住彼此。因为我们被比信仰更深的东西绑在一起，那就是我们共同的人性。

祝贺你们！2025届毕业生们！

Last summer, when I was doing my internship in Mongolia, I got a call from two classmates in Tanzania. They had a very urgent question: how to use their washing machine — because all the labels were in Chinese, and Google kept translating a big button as “Spinning Ghost Mode.”

There we were: an Indian and a Thai calling me, a Chinese in Mongolia, to decipher a washer in Tanzania. And we all study together here at Harvard.

That moment reminds me of something I used to believe when I was a kid: that the world was becoming a small village. I remember being told we would be the first generation to end hunger and poverty for humankind.

My program at Harvard is International Development. It was built on this exact beautiful vision that humanity rises and falls as one.

When I met my 77 classmates from 34 countries, the countries I knew only as colorful shapes on a map turned into real people - with laughter, dreams, and the perseverance to survive the long winter in Cambridge. We danced through each other’s traditions, and carried the weight of each other’s worlds. Global challenges suddenly felt personal.

If there’s a woman anywhere in the world who can’t afford a period pad, it makes me poorer. If a girl skips school out of fear of harassment, that threatens my dignity. If a little boy dies in a war that he didn’t start and never understood, part of me dies with him.

But today, that promise of a connected world is giving way to division, fear, and conflict. We’re starting to believe that people who think differently, vote differently, or pray differently—whether they’re across the ocean or sitting right next to us — are not just wrong. We mistakenly see them as evil.

But it doesn’t have to be this way.

What I’ve gained most from Harvard isn’t just calculus and regression analysis. It’s to sit with discomfort. Listen deeply. And stay soft in hard times.

If we still believe in a shared future, let us not forget: those we label as enemies—they, too, are human. In seeing their humanity, we find our own. In the end, we don’t rise by proving each other wrong. We rise by refusing to let one another go.

So, Class of 2025, when the world feels stuck in Spinning Ghost Mode, just remember: As we leave this campus, we carry everyone we’ve met — across wealth and poverty, cities and villages, faith and doubt. They speak different languages, dream different dreams, and yet—they’ve all become part of us. You may disagree with them, but hold onto them, as we are bound by something deeper than belief: our shared humanity.

Congratulations, Class of 2025!