Abushaar opened her Harvard commencement speech with a childhood memory from Syria — she and her toothless brother indulging in 'imperialistic fantasies' of taking over the country during long taxi rides, only to be silenced by their parents warning that the secret service could hear them through the walls. This single line crystallized the gulf between her childhood in Syria and the freedoms her audience took for granted. Where American children feared imaginary monsters, Syrian children feared very real state surveillance. The comparison was devastating in its simplicity and set the stage for her larger argument about the transformative power of institutions, civil society, and the freedoms Harvard represented.