I'll co-host 'TODAY' from Los Angeles Saturday morning and then

The words “I’ll co-host ‘TODAY’ from Los Angeles Saturday morning and then make my way up to Merced for that evening’s graduation ceremony. I’m still touching up my remarks, but my challenge to the Class of 2010 will be to break through the deafening and too often negative echo chamber of the digital era and become critical and independent thinkers” by Lester Holt carry the weight of a timeless call — a call to awaken the mind in an age of noise. Beneath the mention of his busy day lies a deeper message: that amid the rush of modern life, amid the chorus of digital voices, we must preserve the ancient art of independent thought. Holt, a journalist of integrity, spoke these words on the eve of addressing young graduates — those about to step into a world louder, faster, and more fragmented than any before. His challenge was not about technology itself, but about the human soul within it — a soul at risk of being drowned by the echo chamber of repetition, outrage, and conformity.

In the style of the ancients, we might hear in Holt’s words the echo of Socrates walking the streets of Athens, warning his students that the unexamined life is unworthy of man. The “deafening echo chamber” he describes is the modern Agora — a place where everyone speaks but few truly listen, where ideas multiply but wisdom thins. The ancients sought stillness to think; the modern mind, surrounded by endless updates and reactions, must now fight for silence. Holt’s plea to “become critical and independent thinkers” is, in truth, a plea for freedom — for without discernment, we are prisoners not of tyrants, but of trends.

The origin of Holt’s challenge lies in his own vocation. As a journalist, he has witnessed the transformation of truth into noise, of information into spectacle. Once, news demanded patience, investigation, and reflection. Now, it is often swept away by the tides of instant opinion and emotional reaction. Holt has spent decades standing amid that storm, striving to remain calm and clear — a voice of reason when others shout. To the Class of 2010, he sought to pass on this torch: that wisdom is not found in what is loudest or latest, but in what is tested, thoughtful, and true.

Consider the story of Galileo Galilei, who lived in another age of echo chambers — when the Church’s authority silenced dissenting voices. Surrounded by dogma, Galileo dared to look through his telescope and speak what he saw: that the Earth moves, and the heavens do not revolve around us. For this act of independent thought, he was condemned. Yet history vindicated him. His courage to question, to think beyond the accepted chorus, mirrors Holt’s modern exhortation. Whether the prison is built of religious decree or digital noise, the liberator remains the same: the independent mind.

In our own time, the echo chamber no longer wears robes of authority; it wears algorithms. It flatters us by reflecting our opinions, comforting us with sameness, dulling our hunger for challenge. Holt’s warning is prophetic: a society that ceases to think critically becomes easy to manipulate. When we stop examining what we consume, when we allow the feed to think for us, we surrender our most sacred human faculty — the ability to reason freely. Thus, his words are not only advice to graduates, but a moral summons to all who live in this digital age.

Dear listener, the path to freedom lies in seeking silence amid the noise. Read deeply. Question gently but firmly. Engage with those who differ from you, for truth is sharpened on the stone of disagreement. Let your mind be a lamp, not a mirror. The digital world offers convenience but demands vigilance; do not let the screen dictate your soul. Like Holt, strive to stand upright in the whirlwind of opinions, a steady flame in the storm of distraction.

The lesson endures: Wisdom begins when we learn to hear ourselves think. To be a critical and independent thinker is to reclaim the ancient dignity of the human mind — to see, to question, to discern, and to act not by impulse but by conscience. As Holt challenged the Class of 2010, so must we challenge ourselves today: to rise above the echo, to choose reflection over reaction, and to become, once again, masters of our own thought. For in the age of noise, the quiet thinker is the true revolutionary.