Wallace closed by returning to George and all the young men like him who had died or would die. He compared his reaction to George's death to the experience of Christ's disciples: 'Something bright and shining and full of hope had passed from the world. It just couldn't be. Death couldn't be. Death couldn't end all.' The word 'commencement' itself became the metaphor. Just as these graduates were commencing their adult lives, the world would soon commence its post-war existence. After World War I, he warned, America had 'decided we were not ready to take on adult responsibilities. We weren't ready even to graduate from high school, and some of us wanted to go back to the eighth grade.' This time, there could be no retreat into isolation. 'Our feeling of responsibility must match our economic power, or the mere fact of that economic power will rot us inside.'