We only have a few songs left tonight before we all go home, and I go to sleep for the first time since approximately February. But before we finish up, I’d like to take a few minutes for a little something I have to say.

We’ve all come here tonight for many reasons. Great music – great people – great chance to procrastinate studying for finals, for those of you still in high school… but above all else, we’re here to celebrate – in our own way – the incredible dreams and ambitions that marked the life of one young girl.

As I am sure you’ve all realized from listening to her mother earlier on, Alex Scott was not your average four-year-old when she decided to start her lemonade stand to raise money for pediatric cancer research. In her eight years of life, Alex dreamed, worked, and achieved more than many people can do in eighty.

This week, CBS aired a documentary on Alex’s life and accomplishments – in one clip, Alex was asked why raising money for cancer research was so important to her. Now Alex could have answered any number of things, the most obvious being that she, herself, had cancer. But instead, she said, simply: “because it’s helping people.”

As some of you know, childhood illness has been a presence in my own life for some time now. When life puts any obstacle in your way, it can be – so hard to resist the temptation to just give up. To lose sight of your hopes and aspirations in the face of an intangible barrier. But with enough strength – with enough resolve, love, and support – some manage to defy the odds. By reaching out to a part of themselves, they show the world that beauty and truth can be found in the darkest and most frightening of times and situations. And by reaching out to others, they are a light to the world, demonstrating how in the struggle to make a difference, sometimes it is tragedy that can move us to be and do all that we are able to.

This next song is about the love, compassion, and understanding that every soul on this earth has the ability to give to the world around them. Every one of us has the ability and opportunity to make a difference that goes far beyond anything that the eye can see – and it’s as easy – and as hard – as choosing to make that difference. Because every act of strength – and every act of kindness – can change the world for the better in ways that we may never have imagined. I would like to dedicate this song to three uniquely wonderful people who whose strength, character, and extraordinary love for humanity has changed my own life in magnificent ways – two friends here tonight whose immeasurable love and support have given me the courage to live and dream each moment; and one little girl whose story can teach us all that when life gives you lemons – you can still make lemonade. To Sarah Eidelson. To Emily Kaiser. And of course –- forever -- to Alex Scott.