Biden tells grads: "Think big and imagine"

There are people who say America's future is not as great as its past, Vice President Joe Biden told the newest graduates of Tallwood High School on Thursday.

They're part of the pettiness and negativity that pervades public discourse, he said before a sea of purple caps and gowns at the Virginia Beach Convention Center.

Don't believe them, he said.

"Class of 2012, you're going to live through a period of the most remarkable and rapid technological, scientific and medical breakthroughs in the history of mankind," he said. "And we - you - are going to lead those changes from the United States of America."

Addressing 463 graduates in a crowd of nearly 4,700, Biden thanked the area's military families, lauded Tallwood's global studies academy for bridging cultural divides and, according to students, gave the new graduates a shot of inspiration.

"It brought us together, looking forward," said Eddie Lin, a freshman who came to watch his older friends graduate. "It gave us a lot of hope and the belief that our generation can do great things."

Added his friend, fellow freshman Nick Wilson: "I think it's a speech you can't disagree with, on both sides of the political spectrum."

http://hamptonroads.com.nyud.net/2012/06/va-beach-speech-biden-thanks-military-families