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Booker Tells Penn Grads: Life Is About Significance

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — U.S. Sen. Cory Booker of New Jersey told graduates at the University of Pennsylvania's commencement that life "is not about celebrity, it is about significance."

The Democrat addressed the 5,000 graduates during Monday's ceremony in Philadelphia.

Booker says he is troubled by what he sees as a tendency to assign labels and make conclusions about people who have different points of view.

He asked whether we can be a nation that can disagree but still find common ground, and told the graduates the most valuable thing they can give others is their attention.

He says he believes the small things we do each day define us, saying "how we live our days is how we live our lives."

Rather than focus on changing the world, he urged graduates to "do a little bit of good" wherever they are.

(Copyright 2017 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

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