I didn't end up getting kicked out -- I did that to myself. Priscilla and I started dating. And, you know, that movie made it seem like Facemash was so important to starting Facebook. It wasn't. But without Facemash I would never have met Priscilla, and she's the most important person in my life, so you could still say it was the most important thing I built in my time.
We've all started lifelong friendships here, and some of us even families. That's why I'm so grateful to this place. Thanks, Harvard.
Today I want to talk about purpose. But I'm not here to give you the standard commencement about finding your purpose. We're millennials. We'll try to do that instinctively. Instead, I'm here to tell you finding your purpose isn't enough. The challenge for our generation is creating a world where everyone has a sense of purpose.
One of my favorite stories is when John F Kennedy visited the NASA space center, he saw a janitor holding a broom and he walked over and asked what he was doing. The janitor replied: " Mr. President, I'm helping put a man on the moon" .
Purpose is that sense that we are part of something bigger than ourselves, that we are needed, that we have something better ahead to work for. Purpose is what creates true happiness.
You're graduating at a time when this is especially important. When our parents graduated, purpose reliably came from your job, your church, your community. But today, technology and automation are eliminating many jobs. Membership in communities is declining. Many people feel disconnected and depressed, and are trying to fill a void in their lives.
As I've traveled around, I've sat with children in juvenile detention and opioid addicts, who told me their lives could have turned out differently if they just had something to do, an after school program or somewhere to go. I've met factory workers who know their old jobs aren't coming back and are just trying to find their path ahead.
For our society to keep moving forward, we have a generational challenge: to not only create new jobs, but create a renewed sense of purpose.
I remember the night I launched Facebook from that little dorm in Kirkland House. I went to Noch's with my friend KX. I remember telling him clearly that was excited to connect the Harvard community, but one day someone would connect the whole world.
The thing is, it never even occurred to me that someone might be us. We were just college kids. We didn't know anything about that. There were all these big technology companies with all this resources. I just assumed one of them would do it. But this idea was so clear to us -- that all people want to connect. So we just kept working on it, day after day, after day, after day.
