I was asked to share some wisdom from the Legacy Project Elders with college students graduating this month. I think there is a strong message of hope for young people from the challenges of the last year.

First, congratulations!! But since many people will be congratulating you, I wanted to leave you with one particular thought to carry forward with you.

As some of you know, I’m a gerontologist who has spent a lot of time over the past 15 years talking to very old people about the historical events they have lived through and what they learned from them.

Almost every one of these people, who lived through war, poverty, displacement or famine, told me the same thing: Despite the hardship, it made them better, stronger, more compassionate people and that they had lived fuller lives as a result. Many of them told me that their lives were radically changed by the crisis they lived through, but it made them resilient in the face of everything else life threw in their way later on.

I believe that you, too, have learned life lessons you will never lose.

You have suffered through this pandemic. You have missed out some of the ordinary joys of college life, be it parties, spring break, or in-person classes. You probably worried daily about your own health and those of your loved ones. You lived through a frighteningly divisive time, with conflicts in the country, in cities, and even in families.

But in spite of all that, from years of studying the wisdom of very old people, I can assure you of one thing.

One day, 60 or 70 years hence, you will have reached an age that seems utterly impossible to you now. You will be talking to a group of young people whose age, at that point in your life, will seem equally impossible to you then.

And you will tell them – as the elders told me – of how you lived through one of the greatest crises in American history, how you survived, and how you thrived. You will tell of how you acted, how you coped with stress and fear, and how you helped others. You will reassure them that they, too, can overcome what seem to be insurmountable problems.

As your lives unfold over the coming decades, you will likely find, as previous generations have, that unexpected sources of strength come from living through troubled times, like resilience, wisdom, and compassion. Those are gifts that you can take along with your hard-earned degree. But that’s far in the future. For now –  go celebrate!