Watch: Tim Cook delivers a virtual commencement speech to Ohio State graduates

During his speech, Cook also touched upon the loss of Apple founder Steve Jobs, who died in 2011 following a long battle with pancreatic cancer. Here’s what he said.

Tim Cook dove back into history to talk about the accomplishments of Franklin D Roosevelt, pioneering aviator Amelia Earhart and noted poet TS Eliot during the 1918 flu epidemic. (OSU/YouTube)

Apple Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook on Sunday took to YouTube to deliver a virtual commencement speech to Ohio State University's graduating class of 2020. The decision to host the commencement ceremony online came in light of the restrictions imposed in the state on large gatherings.

In his speech, Cook dove back into history to talk about the accomplishments of Franklin D Roosevelt, pioneering aviator Amelia Earhart and noted poet TS Eliot during the 1918 flu epidemic. "It can be difficult to see the whole picture when you're still inside the frame, but I hope you wear these uncommon circumstances as a badge of honor...Those who meet times of historical challenge with their eyes and hearts open — forever restless and forever striving — are also those who leave the greatest impact on the lives of others," he said in his speech.

"And when our glittering plans are scrambled, as they often will be, and our dearest hopes are dashed, as will sometimes happen, we're left with a choice. We can curse the loss of something that was never going to be…Or we can see reasons to be grateful for the yank on the scruff of the neck, in having our eyes lifted up from the story we were writing for ourselves and turned instead to a remade world," he added.

During his speech, Cook also touched upon the loss of Apple founder Steve Jobs, who died in 2011 following a long battle with pancreatic cancer. "When I joined Apple in 1998, I couldn't believe my luck. I was going to get to spend the rest of my professional life working for Steve Jobs. But fate comes like a thief in the night. The loneliness I felt when we lost Steve was proof that there is nothing more eternal, or more powerful, than the impact we have on others," Cook said.

 

The Apple executive ended his keynote on an optimistic note asking graduates to remain hopeful and work towards building a better future. "Think anew. Act anew...Build a better future than the one you thought was certain...And, in a fearful time, call us once again to hope," he said.

Here are some excerpts from his speech:

It can be difficult to see the whole picture when you're still inside the frame, but I hope you wear these uncommon circumstances as a badge of honor.

Those who meet times of historical challenge with their eyes and hearts open — forever restless and forever striving — are also those who leave the greatest impact on the lives of others.

In every age, life has a frustrating way of reminding us that we are not the sole authors of our story. We must share credit, whether we'd like to or not, with a difficult and selfish collaborator called our circumstances.

And when our glittering plans are scrambled, as they often will be, and our dearest hopes are dashed, as will sometimes happen, we're left with a choice.

We can curse the loss of something that was never going to be, or we can see reasons to be grateful for the yank on the scruff of the neck, in having our eyes lifted up from the story we were writing for ourselves and turned instead to a remade world.

When I joined Apple in 1998, I couldn't believe my luck. I was going to get to spend the rest of my professional life working for Steve Jobs.

But fate comes like a thief in the night. The loneliness I felt when we lost Steve was proof that there is nothing more eternal, or more powerful, than the impact we have on others.

Those of us who can look back on this time and remember inconveniences and even boredom can count themselves lucky. Many more will know real hardship and fear. Others still will be cut to the bone.

And while we turn to our loved ones and friends for comfort, think hard about those whose impact on your life is more distant, but no less meaningful.

Think about an undocumented father, ignored or scorned by his community, who is putting himself at risk in the fields today to feed his family and yours.

Think about a single mother, who stocks shelves at night and drives a city bus in the morning, without whom so much would fall apart.

Think about the hospital orderly, scrubbing down the ward on hands and knees, whose work today is as solitary and sacred as a high priest purifying a temple.

Most of all, think about how you — blessed with a world-class education — might act and work and be differently when all of this is said and done.

Memorialize in your heart the way in which these times reveal what really matters: the health and well being of our loved ones, the resilience of our communities, and the sacrifices made by those — from doctors to garbage collectors — who give their whole selves to serving others.

Graduates, your case is new. For you, the old dogmas have never been an option. You don't have the luxury of being enthralled.

You enter a world of difficulty with open eyes, tasked with writing a story that is not necessarily of your choosing but is still entirely yours. You're the pride of your parents and grandparents, of aunts, uncles and teachers, of the communities that shaped you in ways seen and unseen.

You weren't promised this day. Many of you had to fight hard to earn it. Now it's yours. Think anew. Act anew. Build a better future than the one you thought was certain. And, in a fearful time, call us once again to hope.