Good evening everyone, and welcome back
to SGN. I'm John Krasinski, and boy, just
when I thought being five episodes in we
were really hitting our stride and
pretty much immune to any semblance of
criticism, along comes the internet and
says, "Hi, remember me?" So without further
ado, it's time for us once again to get
straight to the notes. And at first the
criticism came in merely at the level of
a good schoolyard ribbing through tweets
like this one from David Harris, who
writes "I'm a big big fan of Some Good
News, though you're spinning the globe
the wrong direction in your opening." Or
this one from Eliot M, "John Krasinski, I
love this show. Wondering, in addition to
the awesomeness, if you could spin the
globe in the proper direction for the
opening? Counterclockwise, looking down."
But then things quickly escalated to
passive-aggressive when Greg wrote, "Did
the astronauts happen to mention that
you're spinning the globe the wrong way?"
Thanks Greg. Well that ignited Elliot M to
fire shot number two with, "The globe, the
globe. Please just spin it the other way.
That's all that stands between SGN and
perfection." But the levee finally broke
when Melanie from Northwestern North
Carolina wrote, "I can't stand it anymore.
The fate of our world is resting in your
hands. Correct the rotational spin of the
globe in the opening credits of SGN." Well,
though the bluster was more than
slightly hurtful, the message was
received loud and clear. The problem was,
how do I fix it? Lucky for me, my deepest
fears of the Internet conspiring against
me came true, as my two seemingly
greatest enemies finally came together,
the day science teamed up with fan art.
I'm John Krasinski.
I have absolutely no idea what I'm doing.
This is SGN. Good evening everyone, and
welcome back to SGN. I'm John
Krasinski, and now that our opening is
not only accurately portraying science,
but also my very own personal dance
moves, it's time for some good news. And
heading into week six the world had
certainly found its stride as good news
can be found everywhere. In Troutman,
North Carolina lives one of the
biggest Jeep fans of all time. His name
is Caleb, and he just turned eight this
week.
Not wanting quarantine to ruin his
birthday, his mother simply posted on a
message board to see if anyone wanted to
help make her son's day a special one.
Well, she got a few responses. "We had a
great turnout today and we ended up with
310 Jeeps. Great outpouring of support
for a special kid." "This is the best birthday present ever." Speaking of birthdays,
last week we covered the incredible
story of Captain Tom Moore, who
single-handedly has now raised over 36
million pounds for NHS charities. The
even more incredible story?
He turned 100 this week, and well, he got
the birthday wishes that a hero deserves.
In Hartfordshire, England, this family
found out the Olympics were cancelled.
Their response? Nah. In Albany, California,
these two little girls had the simple,
yet game-changing idea of simply going
out into the street and shouting
compliments at people. Sadly, no video
footage exists, so we here at SGN had to
make our first dramatic recreation. "Hey, your
shirt matches your dog. I like that about
you." They could also be heard yelling
this. "I don't know but if you have hair under that hat, but if you do, I'll bet
it's beautiful." And perhaps my very
favorite compliment was this: "Your dog's
face is almost as cute as my face when I
was a baby." In Watertown, Massachusetts,
after 61 years of being married,
one 88 year-old man didn't take
kindly to the idea that he wasn't
allowed to see his bride in her nursing
home. The only problem was, her room was
on the third floor. "When he got up top
there, they kind of put their
hands on the screen of the window, at
that point I teared up." "I asked my wife, 'How much do you love me?' and she
said 'more than you know.'" In New York City,
outside hospitals, police and fire
departments have applauded their health
care heroes every single night at 7 p.m.
Well, this week, one FDNY firefighter
decided to take his gratitude to a whole
new level.
And having absolutely nothing to do with
anything, but quite possibly the best
news story of the year, I'm finally an
action figure. And it's time once again
for a check on the weather. Ryan, how's it
looking out there? Ryan Reynolds: "Looks, uh, it's pretty
good." Thanks Ryan.
Well this week, Spring has finally sprung,
bringing once again the season of beauty,
the season of new beginnings, and the
season of graduations. That's right, the
big days of celebrating one of young men
and women's true rites of passage is
upon us, but due to the current bizarre
circumstances, graduation ceremonies all
over the world have been canceled.
Well, that wasn't going to stop the world
from still trying.
But, let's be honest with ourselves. No
matter how positive we stay, no matter
how hard we try, we all know there's only
one way to truly commemorate this
momentous occasion, and that is by having
a graduation. So, I just thought, let's do
it.
Class of 2020, what is up?
You thought you weren't gonna have a
graduation this year? You're crazy.
"Is that John?" "Yeah, this is me.
Yes, get that hat on. Do it." "I've got to."
John: "Alright, Class of 2020, let's roll call.
What is your name? Where are you from?
Shout it out."
Ashley: "Ashley Hill, Brigham Young University." Negin: "My name is Negin, University of Bath." John: "Nice."
Scott: "I'm Scott Johns, Northwestern University." Emma: "I'm Emma, I am graduating from..." John: "I think you
might be in the running for cutest
graduate. No, no, no, Emma, the kindergartner.
Class of 2020 it's time. The SGN
graduation starts right now, and we're
gonna kick it off just like every other
graduation with our class speakers. Hit
it." "To my fellow graduates and peers. Not
watching from the bleachers on our field,
but rather watching from behind a screen.
Today, we might not have a grand stage to
walk across to celebrate this moment, but
we will be walking through history.
Congratulations.
We made it. It is my honor to represent the class of 2020 as your valedictorian. Let's
pretend that I look like this while I'm talking. Tony Stark once said that part of the
journey is the end. Never did we expect
the ending of our high school and
collegiate careers to end with us in our
living rooms. These last three months
that were supposed to be the best three
months of our school careers have just
been ripped away from us. But the thing about crises, is that it brings out the very best in humanity. This is something that really unites us. I've
seen many of you all in the Class of
2020 lead mutual aid collectives to help
underserved communities affected by
COVID-19. It is more important now
than ever to show the world what we can
accomplish. And it's a time of
reflection, a time to reevaluate and
decide what kind of person you want to
be in the world. In my experience, the
strongest people are always those that
have experienced the worst but have come
out on top anyway. It's our thoughts, our
feelings ,our actions that make up who we
are, and I implore you all to never
forget that.
Class of 2020 has a very unique
opportunity to be able to lead by
example. We have the resilience to
overcome any setback or obstacle that
comes our way. We did it despite
everything that's happening. Can't nobody
take our pride, can't nobody hold us down.
We are stronger together ,and together
there is nothing we cannot do. Here's to
the Class of 2020. You've earned this. You
all give me hope in humanity and that we
can overcome this together.
Congratulations.
Peace. Turn those tassels, baby. We did it.
I love you guys. Yes, that was incredible,
and I'll be honest, that is way better
than any other class speaker I've seen,
and I've seen two. So, that was amazing,
thank you all for that. Thank you to
everyone who participated, every one of
our class speakers, that was incredible.
Alright I gotta keep moving this thing
along here. Now hold on. I was trying to
grad out with you guys, but it's time for
me to get official. Okay, I've got to MC
this thing. Alright, so let me check my
notes. I'm pretty sure it is. Yep, it is.
It's time. Class of 2020, get ready to meet
your commencement speakers, but gotta
warn you. We're gonna do it a little bit
differently here at the SGN graduation,
because last year I gave a commencement
speech of my own, and I was absolutely
terrified. So not wanting to put anybody
else in that situation, I came up with
another idea. This week I reached out to
all of you and asked you to send me a
question that you would love to ask your
commencement speaker, and a whole lot of
you did. The result? How about we don't
have a commencement speech, we have a
commencement conversation? John: "Ben." Ben: "John, how
are you?" John: "I I felt like we had to
highlight you. You're such an incredibly
intelligent kid, an ambitious kid, a
positive kid, and so that's all the
things we need on this show and in life."
Ben: "Thank you John, I really appreciate that." John: "I wanted to bring someone who has
inspired me my whole life to answer the
question for you." Ben: "Oh my god!"
John: "Maybe you can ask the question to him." Ben: "Hi, Steven, oh my goodness."
Steven Spielberg: "Hi Ben. How are you? Your wish is my command. What can I do
for you?" John: "Hello." Meklit: "Hi" John: please it is so nice to
"It is so nice to meet you." Meklit: "It's so nice to meet you. I'm such a big fan." John: Oh
my god, I'm such a big fan of yours. Are
you kidding me? I've been doing a deep
dive into you because I saw your tweet and
I've been learning all about you. Oh, my
god, you are one of the most impressive
people I know, let alone someone being so
young." Meklit: "Oh, my god." John: I don't know if you know this person. She's a huge inspiration to
me and this is, I don't know if you know Malala?" Malala: "Hi, how are you?" Meklit: "I'm good. How are you? I'm such a big fan."
Malala: "I'm good. Thank you. Very nice to see you." Meklit: "I actually wrote a paper about you in ninth grade."
Malala: "Thanks. What was it about?" Meklit: "It was about who inspires you and why and I chose you."
Malala: "Thanks, that means a lot. Thank you." John: "Amanda. Hi. It is so nice to meet you. I
have heard all about you and it is
blowing my mind.
So first of all, you're graduating from Harvard." Amanda: "Yes." John: "So,
achieve something one day, that would be
great. You've been named the first youth
poet laureate in the country's history?"
Amanda: "Yes, that is correct." John: "Here's the deal. I'm not smart enough to answer your question, but
I do know someone who is. She's an
inspiration of mine and I hope an
inspiration yours. I don't know if you
know this person." Oprah Winfrey: "Amanda!" Amanda: "Oh my god!" John: "John!"
John Knitter: "I love the outfit." John Krasinski: "It's so nice to meet you.
Congratulations. You're graduating today.
I didn't know if you knew. By the way, this is your diploma." "Oh my gosh, thank you." "It is so
nice to meet you, man. Thank you for
submitting a great question and I do
have someone that I think can answer
your question very well and bring some
enlightenment to your life. This is a
friend of mine." "Oh my gosh, Jon Stewart."
Jon Stewart: "Hey man." "Hey Jon, how are
you doing? Tt's the three Johns!" John Krasinski: "We're
gonna swap a lot of stories when we go
on the road together as the three Johns."
John: "Steven, Ben had a really profound
question that I thought would inspire so
many people watching this show, so he's
gonna ask it to you. Take it away, Ben."
Ben: "Yeah, how do you still all your dreams
when it feels like the world isn't so
supportive of them?" Meklit: "My question was if you can tell you younger self one thing,
what would it be?" Amanda: "Well, now that I'm asking it to you, the question was think
about a time in your life that felt like
a low point at the moment, but actually
changed everything for you." Oprah: "Oh, I so love that question. It feels like therapy." John Knitter: "My
question as I'm a graduate is, now what?" Jon Stewart: "Now what?" John Knitter: "Yeah. Now what?"
Jon Stewart: "Let me tell you something, that is the question." Steven: "Well, you
know, dreams are great tests because a
dream is going to test your resolve, and
you're going to know a dream from a pipe
dream. You're gonna know a dream from
just sort of a casual brush with
something that got you excited and then
it evaporates. The real dream is
something that not only hangs on to you,
but you will hang on to it. And it will
power you through every obstacle that
people and the environment will throw
against you. Because if we're in service
of our dreams versus our dreams begin
service to us, it becomes something
greater. It allows us to be game, and it
allows us to get over our fear and to go
forward no matter what obstacles are
thrown in our path." Malala: "Regarding what I would say to my younger self,
I would just tell myself that believe in your
voice, continue speaking and don't give
up. Society tries to define us and
tries to limit us, so I would say just do
not listen to that, ignore all of that
and believe in yourself and continue
what you strongly believe in and what
you want to do." Meklit: "Thank you so much, yes, that's
such amazing advice. Thank you." Oprah: "There have been several times in my life, Amanda, when
things didn't go the way I wanted. This
is actually the most
influential in my life, it was the most
impactful, because it was the first time.
I was 22, I got this big job working in
television as an anchor on the news in
Baltimore. And I was placed with an older
gentleman who didn't want me to be there,
but I didn't know that. I came in for the
fall of '76, by April 1st, 1977 I'm being
called in by the bosses and told that I
am no longer going to be needed on the
news. I thought it was an April Fool's
joke. Anyway, I get demoted. I am
humiliated, I am embarrassed. I know that
they are waiting to fire me. What they
did was, instead of firing me, put me on
the local talk show. The day I did my
first talk show I felt like I had come
home to myself. I believe that failure is
an opportunity to move yourself in a
different direction. It gets better
because you've learned the lessons from
the first time." Jon Stewart: "The person on Mr. Krasinski's
show before you, their
question was answered by Oprah. So I
think it's clear, sometimes in life
you're gonna get the short end of the
stick. You're about to enter into a world
where you know no one's grading you,
there's none of those things that are going to be going on.
Stop completing things and start living." "Wow." Steven: "One of the things this moment is
teaching us, is that truly anything is
possible. It will be imagination and
innovation that gets us all to the other
side. I know this is a time of huge
loss, but it's also a chance to dream big
about our futures together, and your
generation has something important to
say about making that a better future
for all of us. 
John: "Malala, I thought maybe you could also
talk to Meklit because I don't think
many people know, you don't get to
graduate either." Malala: "No, I don't.
Unfortunately, 2020
wasn't our year. And a lot of
students, their graduation
ceremonies are not happening, but we are
not going to give up. We're going to
celebrate it in any way possible." Meklit: "I agree." John: "Or on an Internet show, you can also celebrate."
Oprah: "One of my greatest poet, mentor friends, a woman who became a mother, sister to me,
Maya Angelou, used to say to me all the
time, "Baby, God put a rainbow in the
clouds." And this is true, Amanda. There
have been many times when you're on the
ground, and you're going to fly somewhere
this is my favorite moment in life, that
when it's really dark and dreary on the
ground, and then you get in the plane and
within three minutes you shoot above the
clouds and you see the Sun was always
there." John: "Amanda, if your average Friday when Oprah is quoting Maya Angelou and
telling you that there's the sun
still shining up above the clouds, get out of here."
John Knitter: "How other than getting out
there and going for it, like what now?"
Jon Stewart: "What did you just say? other than what?" John Knitter: "Getting out there and going for it." Jon Stewart: "Oh my
god, John. You just answered your own
question." Steven: "You know Ben, when you do something that's really personal to
you it means so much more than other
things you do that are there that are
in-betweeners. When you finally
hit on something that really means
something to you, that's something that
stays with you the rest of your life." Malala:
"What would you say to like young girls
who are missing out their graduation
ceremonies or need a positive message to
aspire for their dreams?" Meklit: "I'll say it's
all about perspective. Even though
we don't get to graduate, that we're still
safe, and that's not something everyone
can say out in the world." Jon Stewart: "You 
have no idea what's about to come at you,
and man, isn't that the beautiful part of
it? The one piece of advice I would give
you is embrace that. You are now looking
upon the horizon, the roads forking, and
you think to yourself, "This is a world
filled with possibility. I am steeled
and ready for the challenge that lay
before me. Now what? I am the captain
of my own ship and I will write this
story." Oprah: "I can't wait to read your work, to
see your work, to feel your work, to know
that the dream that your ancestors held
for you, that you now carry that dream
forward in such a way that you
wear the crown that they made for you." Amanda: "Thank you." Jon: "Learn from each opportunity
that you have. Let no opportunity be too
small for your time, and let no
opportunity be too big for your
possibilities." John Krasinski: "Thank you guys both for
doing this. I'm so glad you guys got to
meet. This is your year, don't worry." Meklit: "Okay,
thank you so much." Ben: "Thank
you, Steven, that means a lot." Steven: "March on,
march on." Jon: "I've got a good
feeling about you, friend. You're gonna do
well." "Happy graduation!" John: "Class of 2020,  by the power vested in me by no one, congratulations. You have
officially graduated. There you go."
And just like that, we did it. Thank you
to everyone who made SGN graduation so
very special. That'll do it for this
episode of SGN. I'm John Krasinski,
reminding you that no matter how hard
things get, there is always good in the
world. And how do I know that? Because
class of 2020, today you are the good in
the world.
Thank you everybody. We'll see you next
time. Today, we burst into a new world.
Around the globe we might not be
wearing a robe, but this is our ode,
our moment. So let's own it, let's smile,
because we didn't mount this milestone alone. This took a village. We are the image
only ever seen and our ancestors' wildest
dreams. This is a rite of passage, but
more so a passage of lights. We're the
bright torch that never stops burning,
never quits learning. This night too
shall pass, and when it does, this 2020
class won't just navigate a new normal,
together we'll build a better one.
Become to this commencement to search
no more. We are the good news that we've
been looking for, demonstrating that
every dusk holds a dawn disguised within
it. Today, we don't burst into a new world,
we begin it.
