When you respect the law and the rights of all — because if you don't, who will? When your food is brought to you, when you thank the server — because if you don't, who will? When you pick up the litter that has missed the recycling bin — because if you don't, who will?
Tom Hanks
Harvard University Commencement 2023, 2023
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这句语录背后的故事
Hanks defines 'the American way' through a cascading series of everyday acts, each punctuated by the same question: 'Because if you don't, who will?' The list moves seamlessly from the legal (respecting the law) to the mundane (thanking a server, picking up litter) to the civic (voting your conscience and ensuring your neighbor can vote theirs) to the personal (making good on victories and learning from losses). By interweaving the grand and the trivial under the same refrain, Hanks argues that citizenship isn't about dramatic moments of heroism — it's about a perpetual practice of decency in small spaces. The repetition creates an almost liturgical rhythm, transforming ordinary acts into expressions of democratic faith.
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