To the graduating Class of 2005

The world that we are about to enter is gravely different from the one which we left four years ago. Back in the fall of 2001, we arrived at Princeton with minds molded by the 90's, a prosperous decade that saw the end of the cold war, an economic boom and a period of relative peace and stability in the world. We entered Princeton optimistic and idealistic about the future. We were to continue living in a golden age, one that would be characterized by the progressive ideals of peace, social justice and global understanding. In short, we had arrived at the end of history.

But history wasn't quite ready to resign to retirement. While we were floating on our own naiveté, history was preparing for its next chapter, one so earthshaking that it will not only ground us, but it will also throw our notions of the world into a blender and force us to systemically reevaluate the world around us.

That new chapter began less than one week into our Princeton careers. Several days into orientation, we woke up from our newly sheeted beds on the morning of Sept. 11, 2001 and heard from our roommates and neighbors that something big had happened. Congregating in front of TV's and computers all over campus, we stood alongside our new classmates and stared in disbelief as the world we knew was obliterated into dust by the explosive power of four commercial airplanes.

At the time, few of us could foresee the enormous significance of Sept. 11 and its repercussions beyond ground zero. America will react of course, but how hard will it be to take out a group of fringe religious fundamentalists in Afghanistan? We were, after all, still thinking like we were in the 90's, when America faced no threatening rivals and few obstacles stood in the way of our interests.

But we soon abandoned that sense of invincibility. Shortly after we saw the annihilation of the Twin Towers, we began witnessing the unraveling of our hegemony. We realized that Sept. 11 was not an isolated event but rather the harbinger of a new world order, one in which our dominance is no longer unchallenged nor our victories guaranteed.

So here we are, four years later. The dust stirred up by wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, a string of terrorist attacks, a presidential reelection and countless other landmark events around the world has yet to settle. The world we are about to enter is very much in a state of flux with a final course of direction that is still unknown.

Some weighty questions must first be answered. Will America and the West triumph over terrorism? Will there ever be true democracy in the Middle East? Will the divide between America and Europe widen? How are we to prevent nuclear proliferation? Does a rising China mean a declining United States? Will Asia be the geopolitical center of the 21st century? Where will our energy come from as fossil fuel resources decline? What are we to do about global warming?

I believe we will see many of these questions answered in our lifetime. And I also believe that many of us will contribute to these answers. Forged by the fires of Sept. 11, we are the first generation to begin our careers in this new world and the first graduating class from Princeton to have undergone our entire college years in this new era. Many of us have already begun preparing ourselves to help answer these questions through the classes, extracurricular activities and thesis topics we have chosen.

Class of 2005, I beg that you recognize just how vital you are in determining the course of this uncertain future. The privilege of having a Princeton education is not in the academic, financial or personal success that it can deliver, but rather in the opportunities to influence change that are in store for us. It is this responsibility that comes with our education and with the Princeton badge. Whether we study the social sciences, the natural sciences, engineering or the humanities, we are, like it or not, the vanguard of a new era, and we must make it our prerogative to use the education we have received to help overcome the challenges of our time. May the world welcome what we have to offer. Kyle Meng is a civil and environmental engineering major from Chappaqua, N.Y. He can be reached at kmeng@princeton.edu.