Message from H H Sheikha Moza to the Class of 2024: ‘You can make the world a better place’

H H Sheikha Moza bint Nasser Chairperson of Qatar Foundation: I congratulate you on your achievements. As you graduate from your school or university,...

H H Sheikha Moza bint Nasser Chairperson of Qatar Foundation: I congratulate you on your achievements. As you graduate from your school or university, wherever you are in the world, you are told you can change it — that you can make it a better place. You are talented, capable and you have the energy and enthusiasm of youth. You hold all the tools to make positive change. You are the ones who can and will transform society.

We who are older watch with mixed emotions as you go out into the world. Pride is at the forefront – so much pride in all you have achieved and all you will achieve. But we are also wistful and nostalgic. You remind us of ourselves, back in the days before we were tamed by society and its expectations, in the days when we too were filled with the idealism of youth.

It was a time when we were honest with ourselves, not yet burying our honesty under layers of duty and respectability. As time has gone by, our lives have been filled by responsibilities: work, families, and the pressure to conform that comes with modern-day life. Gradually we have learnt to prioritise the expectations of others over our dreams.

Over the years, we have been instructed many times to “be realistic”. Idealism is apparently seen by much of the world as something frivolous. And yet, isn’t idealism is a precious asset — one of the most important attributes in the world? How can it be frivolous to be idealistic?

Where would we be without idealism, a potent concoction of enthusiasm, energy and faith that inspires our actions, but is so easily lost? If only it were possible to bottle idealism, because if we do not hold onto our ideals, then we will stop striving to achieve them, and if no one strives for a better world, then it will never happen.