This weekend and beyond, a new crop of high school students will be mounting the stage, mortarboards on heads and gowns over suits and dresses.

They’ll be walking across the stage to take their diplomas.

They’ll be walking across that stage as adults, ready to take their place in society.

The Class of 2010 will be walking at a watershed moment for this country.

We are at the tail end of what has become known as “The Great Recession.” It has been a time of great unrest in nearly all job sectors, and a toppling of our most esteemed financial institutions. Before the strains of “Pomp and Circumstance” even begin to play this weekend, most of our grads will have been affected by this painful chapter of our history. They may have family and friends who have lost jobs; they may have experienced job loss or pay cuts themselves. Like the rest of us, they are living with the consequences of a strained economy and a long war and no doubt feeling anxiety about what awaits them.

To you students worrying about what the world is bringing to you, let me describe the hope you are bringing to this world.

You are the innovators.

You, the Class of 2010, having lived through one of the hardest economic times in recent history, will be the innovators. We adults tend to do things in the same old way. We always want to bring back the good old days, which weren’t all that good to begin with. You, with your fresh perspective, will be teaching us old dogs the new tricks we so desperately need to learn. We need you to help us think outside of the box.

You understand compassion.

More so than many generations, you’ve seen firsthand how people have suffered, whether it’s from lack of resources or loss in wartime. You’ve seen the homeless, the sick who cannot afford health care, as well as the loved ones of service people struggling with grief. Perhaps you’ve been among them. That capacity to understand others’ pain marks you. The future laws that you will pass, the financial models that you create, will reflect how much you understand their impacts in real, human terms.

You realize how fragile our earth is.

We adults are still hatching out of a world view that sees the earth’s resources strictly in terms of profits. The broadening oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico and the denials over global warming are prime examples of that hubris. You, on the other hand, are living with the consequences of this short-term thinking. You are part of the generation closest to seeing the world as it really is: a fragile eden that deserves our protection rather than our plundering. You have the capacity to create benevolent policies based on long-term vision, rather than short-term profits.

You’ve lived through war.

You, the Class of 2010, have spent most of your lives with our country in some kind of wartime conflict. Military memorials have become events for people you’ve known, as opposed to a war you’ve been reading about. You’ve been living with the consequences of increased military surveillance and heightened security. You are going to be among our leaders and voters who will finally broker a real and sustaining peace, because you’re not going to wish that kind of experience for your own children. You understand the cost of war in the most human of terms because you’ve lived most of your life in the shadow of it. You’re going to find the sun.

In the months and years ahead, you will be forging your own paths, inheriting the legacy of one of the most powerful democracies on earth. Don’t ever forget that the present is one thing, but your attitude is everything. Now, more than ever, we need you: the world needs you. It only takes the simplest of steps: voting, volunteering, valuing others.

Step up, Class of 2010.

You are the future.

Laura Pierce is editor of the Kent Reporter. Contact her at lpierce@kentreporter.com, or by calling 253-872-6600, ext. 5050.