ACTOR JAMES AVERY passed away this week at the age of 65, after years of delighting children and adults as Uncle Phil in the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air.

(He also played the voice of Shredder in the original Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, let’s not forget.)

Back in 2012, Avery gave a graduation address at his old college, the University of California San Diego. Here’s what he told his audience of young adults.

Life itself is a miracle. You had to fight to be here, so fighting is what you’re going to continue to do. You’re all scientists, and you’re majoring in stuff that I can’t even begin to explain. But you have to realise one thing. Your life is a gift, it’s something you fought for. You’re already a champion.

The world is yours now. You have succeeded, you’ve won many things to be here. If you’re the child of a single parent, which I am, you’ve won even more. 

At some point, your children are going to point to you and talk about your failures. How you screwed up the world. How the choices that you made made it impossible for them. Because the world is yours. Whatever changes that have to be made, are going to come from you [...] And get ready for your own mistakes.

And finally…

Be proud of yourself. Be a little loud, be raucous, be rude, be happy. 

You can watch the full speech here:

RIP James Avery.

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