To the graduating Class of 2026, I offer this advice. Wear sunscreen. It’s good advice I heard once in a Baz Luhrmann song.

“Youth is wasted on the young” is a phrase you will one day understand, but only too late. Take comfort knowing that your youth is given in fair trade for the wisdom you earn over time.

Don’t take yourself so seriously. You are your own worst critic and only you have to live with your decisions. Life is far more flexible than you imagine.

Admire the pageantry of humanity but do not believe it. We all wear silly hats, like mortarboards.

The arc of the universe tends toward justice, but you must bend it.

People join causes if they have no “because,” so “be cause.”

Vote wisely at the ballot box, at the cash register and with your feet. Money is ink on cotton paper which people trade to you for your time. It does not buy happiness; you must find that on your own.

Question, protest, criticize, fight for justice, write and read letters, poetry, songs, speeches, sermons or legislation. Armchair complaints do not leave your living room.

Do not tell others how to think or speak, but persuade with rhetoric and logic. Do not be persuaded by emotion and passion, but by reason.

Being hated for honesty is more honorable than being loved for deception. Lies are hard to remember — truth is easy to corroborate.

Do not fear evil, but fear the indifference of good people. Never be indifferent. With great power comes great responsibility and that power is often just being in the right place at the right time.

Youth, friends, lovers, coworkers, neighbors, money and fame all come and go. The world is one big small town. Treat its residents accordingly. Serve your community selflessly and it will repay you in kind.

Odin walks among us, so be welcoming to strangers. True friends will offer a lift when you’re stranded on a sofa for the night. Do the same. Don’t overstay your welcome.

Hold space and be a shelter for those who have none. Build yourself an army so you have ground to go to.

Dance. Your body is a gift that took 4.5 billion years to perfect. Use it unabashedly and shamelessly.

Make art daily, so when you reach old age, you have a lifetime of beauty to remember.

If it is unclear, rephrase it. If it unusable, remove it. If it is imperfect, rework it until it is as much a part of you as a limb.

Write poetry, even if it never leaves your notebook. If it does, proclaim it loudly from the stage.

If language is incorrect, what is said is not what is meant and what must be done remains undone.

Spellcheck.

Put down your phone and go look at the moon and the stars like our ancestors have for 100,000 years. Name constellations in your honor. Invent their mythologies.

Embrace solitude, don’t fear it. It will save you on the lonely nights. Once a year, lie down in a gutter to learn how to sleep there if need be.

If you get cut, watch yourself bleed. Understand that time is doing the same thing to you. We are water and dust breathed into life with an expiration date.

Death is inevitable. Accept this. Live like the Grim Reaper may knock on your door tomorrow. One tomorrow, he will.

If you have children, your world is their past. Give them memorable names. Savor all the moments. Raise them intelligently; you owe it to your grandparents.

Family binds you to your ancestry and is the only thing that survives you.

Teach daughters to be warriors. Teach sons to be gentle.

Forgive your parents; they were young once, too. Where they failed, do not.

Send love letters, handwritten and in envelopes. Keep a box of all the love letters you receive.

Attend weddings and funerals whenever possible. Ceremonies are silly, but they bind us to our history and remind us of our shared humanity. You are the microphone of your ancestors; your children echo you through time.

You are never alone; 10,000 generations are in your bones. If you don’t have children, be a mentor. Your wisdom will shape the generations long after we are gone.

Ask for advice. The best is offered freely. Take what you need and make a list. Change it whenever you change yourself. When you are old, offer advice to anyone. Some may forget it, others may ignore it, but a handful may take your best lines and repeat them long after you are again water and dust.

It takes guts to say “goodbye,” “I’m sorry” and “I love you,” so be brave.

Love like a brass section; love like brass knuckles.

If you borrow, cite your sources.

If you are reading this: You are beautiful. You are perfect. Nothing is wrong with you.

Words can kill, so use them wisely. Speak honestly and slow. Enunciate with conviction. Your words will bind you when all else is lost.

Anonymity is for cowards, so always sign your name. Proudly. In ink.

The past is unchangeable, the future is unknowable. You live in the blink of a moment between them.

Glory is fleeting but obscurity is forever. Become worth remembering.