Whitford's sixth and final principle was 'Take action.' Every story you've ever connected with, every leader you've ever admired, every puny little thing you've ever accomplished was the result of taking action. You could either be a passive victim of circumstance or the active hero of your own life. Mistakes were inevitable — learn from them and move on. He then turned to the graduates who had started college in the fall of 2000, before September 11th, and told them they were going out into a world no one could have imagined four years earlier. 'We need you,' he said. 'The choices are difficult and the consequences are real.'