Ambassador of Ukraine Oksana Markarova addressed the Boston College Class of 2023 at the University’s 147th Commencement as a Commencement Speaker.

Oksana Markarova spoke in front of of 4.5 thousand graduates of Boston College  - one of the leading American educational institutions, which gave the USA a number of famous politicians, government officials, governors, mayors, scientists, publicists, and artists to send a message of deep gratitude for solidarity with Ukraine while russian aggressor aims to strip Ukrainians of their basic freedoms and destroy our nation as such. 

Ambassador also called on students to act, be strong and decisive in critical times. 

During the ceremony Ambassador has been presented with a 2023 Honorary Degree. This way Boston College honored the people of Ukraine for their commitment to the rule of law, freedom, and human rights.

Grateful  to the President of Boston College Father Leahy for an honour.

𝐂𝐎𝐌𝐌𝐄𝐍𝐂𝐄𝐌𝐄𝐍𝐓 𝐒𝐏𝐄𝐄𝐂𝐇 𝐎𝐅 𝐀𝐌𝐁𝐀𝐒𝐒𝐀𝐃𝐎𝐑 𝐎𝐊𝐒𝐀𝐍𝐀 𝐌𝐀𝐑𝐊𝐀𝐑𝐎𝐕𝐀 𝐀𝐒 𝐃𝐄𝐋𝐈𝐕𝐄𝐑𝐄𝐃

Dear University President, 

Father Leahy, 

Chairman of the Board of Trustees, John Fish, 

His Eminence, Cardinal O'Malley, 

members of the Board of Trustees and the Board of Regents, 

honored guests, parents, ladies and gentleman, 

AND – the most important people on the stadium today - graduates of the class of 2023

What a pleasure and honor to be your commencement speaker and to have a big responsibility to share with you something that you might find useful and maybe cool as you enter the real life. Its you, who will be shaping up the world and taking your university motto – EVER TO EXCELL – to everything you do in life.  And you will need all the knowledge, all the faith, all the energy and all the strength to do it. 

What gives us strength?  

As the Ambassador of Ukraine, I hear this question every day. Ukraine is in the news every day: the devastating missile attacks, the gruelling fights, the miserable life and atrocities under Russian occupation… So people ask me, “How do you people do it?  How does your President do it? Where do you find the strength?” 

When Russian missiles hit Ukrainian cities and the Russian infantry walked into the Ukrainian countryside in the early hours of February 24, 2022, many experts across the globe gave my country 3 days before it falls. How could Ukraine counter what was believed the second most powerful army in the world?  

453 days on, Ukraine is still standing. We’re still fighting. We’ve repelled the invaders from the northern part of the country. We’ve liberated Kherson – a city of 300,000, and countless towns in the South. Our armed forces have taken a heroic stand at the town of Bakhmut and have repelled endless Russian attacks for nearly 9 months.  

What gives us strength?  

This was the title of a poem penned by Ukrainian classic Lesia Ukrainka more than a century ago. She was born 1871 (7 years after Boston College opened doors to its first students) lived in the Russian empire, which ruled Ukraine – essentially, a Russian colony at that time – with an iron fist. Even publishing in the Ukrainian language was punishable by prison.  

Lessia Ukrainka wrote a poem about a carpenter in Jerusalem who was hired by the authorities to craft crosses. Those were needed to execute three criminals. The dirty poor carpenter didn’t put much effort into those crosses. One in particular was sloppily made from a particularly heavy kind of wood. But what can the poor carpenter do? It was cheap, hasty work. The economy was in decline, beggars couldn’t be choosers.

And so this carpenter spends his day lamenting his poverty and his arduous toil, which sapped all his energy and strength. And then he sees a crowd marching past his workshop. People gleefully watch as three prisoners carry their crosses to their place of execution. The revellers cheer as soldiers cruelly force one of these prisoners get up and walk after he’s fallen down under the weight of his cross.  

The carpenter watches as the pale-faced prisoner falls down again, unable to bear the weight of the cross. Just as a soldier is about to lace him with a whip, the carpenter finds himself next to the prisoner helping him raise the cross. “I made this cross too heavy. It’s my job to carry it,” the carpenter says.  

He straightens his spine, his arms find their old strength, and his eyes burn with determination as the carpenter bears Jesus’ cross to Golgotha.  

What gave him strength?  

What did the Ukrainian poet mean by this apocryphal story?  

What does it have to do with the Ukrainians’ plight today?  

And why am I sharing this story with you on this glorious day?  

Throughout my life I find three things that give me the strength.  

These three things are what gives the Ukrainian people the strength during these difficult 15 months.  

These three things are what filled the apocryphal carpenter with the courage to defy the Roman guards, to fly in the face of public opinion, and to do the right thing.  

And this is what I would like to talk to you today.  

So the first one is a word you heard a lot from your professors and teachers and from your parents. It's - RESPONSIBILITY.  

Just as the carpenter in the poem took it upon himself to bear the burden, so did Ukrainians raise to the challenge of full-scale invasion.  

If someone would think that the first sounds of explosions sent all Ukrainians to duck and cover – they’d be wrong.  

In the 31 years of renewed Ukraine’s independence, we’ve built our democracy and protected it more than once against any attempt to violate its essential principles like free elections and freedom. It wasn’t a perfect democracy by any means. We hadn’t finished honing it. We were still rooting out the remains of the totalitarian and corrupt Soviet legacy.  

What we have learned during the 31 year was that it is solely up to us the people to protect our freedoms. In 2013, we took to the streets to oppose the corrupt president who was about to sell out to Russia. In 2014, when Russia attacked us the first time, we took up arms when Russia annexed the Crimean peninsula and invaded our Eastern lands. In 2022, we heard the explosions and we stood up to protect our country.  

Russia’s attack on Ukraine wasn’t a simple land grab. It was a blatant violation of the rules-based order. It was a genocidal attack aimed to destroy Ukraine’s statehood and its freedom-loving people. A free Ukraine has always been a thorn in Russia’s side. A strong, successful, democratic, European, Ukraine that is a full-fledged member of the Western democratic world, has always been Russia’s worst nightmare.  

So we went to fight not just for our land and our national identity. We went to fight for democracy itself. We would not, could not bear returning to the dictatorship that had ruled our lands for centuries in the past.  

Our democracy was, like that poorly crafted cross, still unwieldy, and rough in places. But it was ours. We could not bear losing it.  

Facing such a massive threat was a frightening experience. When you see the enemy’s tanks in your street, when you hear the enemy’s steps in your house, when your neighbor’s son is taken by strangers, when a missile hit destroys a hospital, a kindergarten, a house… It’s chilling. It’s easy to panic. Your lizard brain tells you to hide away, to submit, to give up. The easiest thing to do is nothing. And it’s also the worst thing to do.  

That brings me to the second thing I would like to talk about today - TAKING ACTION

The poor carpenter spent his time complaining, feeling like a hapless victim. Yet, as soon as he decided to act, his strength came back. There is a world of difference between being thrown into the arena and stepping into the arena. In that split second when you decide to act, you change from a victim to a hero.  

When the President Zelenskyy took out his phone on the first day of the aggression and he said: “we are here, we will not give up. We will fight and defend our country”, this is what he did.   It's for the same reason that on the first day of Russia's invasion 1000s of men lined up to the military recruitment offices. It's for the same reason that my husband who is with me today, flew back to Ukraine on the next day after  invasion started. And I'm very proud of him.

Students and professors, librarians and scientists, engineers and doctors enterpreneurs and parliamentarians chose to take action, chose to put a uniform and defend the country or choose to do anything else to help those who put a uniform, thousands of people started collecting donations.  

Thousands of people opened their doors to Ukrainians, because we had 12 millions who were relocated and fleeing from the war inside Ukraine. 

Thousands of millions accommodated those people. 

It's for the same reason that Ukrainian business moved from the uncontrolled territories to western and central Ukraine. It's for the same reasons that programmers started to write codes in bomb shelters and continued to pay taxes. It's for the same reason that so many Americans supported Ukrainians, from helping those in the US to sending support to those in Ukraine or even traveling to Ukraine, or to Europe to help Ukrainians, from supporting President Biden, both parties in Congress from doing everything possible to provide us with so much needed and so much valued help. Because again, this is our joint fight for democracy and for freedom, and for international rules everywhere. 

All these ordinary people committed truly heroic acts in Ukraine and in the US.

That moment when you decide to act is when you stop being an ordinary person and become truly extraordinary. You excel! 

So what is the third thing that gives you strength for me?  

Its LOVE. 

Not love as in “hearts and flowers,” although as a happily married woman I can tell you it helps, too.  

Love as in “love thy neighbor.” Love as in “sharing is caring.” Love as in when you see someone suffer, you reach out and help.  

Yes, like that carpenter who went to help the exhausted man, beaten and tortured, who was carrying his own cross uphill, to his place of death.  

Like all those people who brought food and water to those who suffer.  

Like all those who baked pastry and served hot tea to families that had narrowly escaped death or occupation.  

Like all those countries that opened their borders to the Ukrainian refugees.

Like all those people donating to treat the wounded, give psychological help to the victims of rape, and give new limbs to children, as in our UKRAINE HOUSE UNBREAKABLE program.  

Love is always about taking responsibility for someone. Love is always about taking action. Love is about support and help.  

Never ask yourself, “Should I help?” Ask yourself, “How can I help?” 

And I am not only talking about Ukraine. I am talking about everything you do in your life. 

Love seems like such as simplistic answer, doesn’t it?  

No, it isn’t. Everything great ever accomplished in the world was done out of love. Love gives you strength to perform miracles.  

Russia set our house on fire, fuelled by hatred. We fight out of love for our country, our people and our freedom. That’s why the free world supports us. That’s how I know Ukraine will prevail.  

25 years ago I came to the United States for the first time. The first city I visited was Boston.  

I remember how amazed I was to see this city, steeped in history yet brimming with innovation. I remember walking down the street and thinking, “This place feels like freedom”. 

All these years later, I am privileged to represent my country, to work with many incredible people and to be here today. As I look at you, as I feel your boundless energy and your eagerness to start your new lives, as I think of all the opportunities and adventures awaiting you, I can’t help thinking, “This place still feels like freedom.”  

And if there is one thing I want you to remember from my speech I ask you to remember this.

Freedom is not a given. Opportunities are not a given. Democracy is not a given. We all have many battles to fight in, many obstacles to overcome, many challenges to see through and where we're all together.  

Where will we get the strength? In our responsibility to take action for what we love. 

Please choose to do that. Every time you have to make a choice. And at that moment, you all will become truly extraordinary.

The apocryphal carpenter knew more than 2,000 years ago. 

The Ukrainian poet said it 120 years ago. 

It is still true today.   

God bless you all.

Thank you for having me here today. And good luck to you!