Apple CEO Tim Cook challenged graduates to see beyond how coronavirus may have scuttled their plans in a virtual address to Ohio State University.
Their post-college dreams may be delayed, but most have not seen the worst of COVID-19.
"Those of us who can look back on this time and remember inconveniences and even boredom can count themselves lucky. Many more will know real hardship and fear. Others still will be cut to the bone," he said in a recording released on YouTube Sunday.
"While we turn to our loved ones and friends for comfort, think hard about those whose impact on your life is more distant but no less meaningful," he added. "Think about an undocumented father, ignored or scorned by his community, who is putting himself at risk in the fields today to feed his family and yours. Think about a single mother who stocks shelves at night and drives a city bus in the morning, without whom so much would fall apart. Think about the hospital orderly scrubbing down the ward on hands and knees, whose work today is as solitary and sacred as a high priest purifying a temple."
And beyond all that, he asked, "think about how you, blessed with a world-class education, might act and work and be differently when all this is said and done."
Topics Apple Social Good COVID-19
