This line served as the crystallizing moment of Emanuel's lesson about learning from failure. Speaking to graduates entering one of the toughest job markets in decades during the 2008 financial crisis, he acknowledged the challenges head-on while insisting that moments of struggle are precisely when people prove what they are really worth. He urged the class of 2009 to see the difficult economic moment not as a burden but as an opportunity — a rare chance to do big things, because it was an 'all-hands-on-deck moment for America' that needed a new generation's energy and ideas.