Image Credits – News360World

The seniors of Kitsilano Secondary School in Vancouver got a grand surprise from actor Ryan Reynolds amid the lockdown. They are now finishing their senior year via online classes since the schools closed as soon as the outbreak started. With their graduation ceremony date nearing, on June 19th, there is not much hope for it to go as planned.

As the school is the alma mater of the Deadpool star, he held a virtual commencement speech on YouTube for the graduating class of 2020 of the school on Friday. And Ryan Reynolds gifts free pizza to the graduates of his old high school after delivering the virtual commencement speech. At the beginning of the video, he said he missed his friend from school, Jonah Eckert, whom he hadn’t seen in 1.2 billion years. Though Eckert is now a teacher at the school, he is still a 17-year-old kid in his mind.

He recalled how his friend with frosted tipped hair would always wear shorts even when it was minus 20. He playfully added that being a teacher must be the plan B for Eckert as he was excited at their graduation because he was going to start a money-laundering operation with a Mexican cartel.

The actor described his two years at Kitsilano the ‘best thing that ever happened’ to him up till today and he is still friends with a lot of people from the school.

The 43-year-old said that he would like to share some intimate thoughts with them calling it ‘one little chestnut of wisdom’. He explained if anyone wants to start something for themselves or somebody else they should do it. As it worked for him practicing some form of compassion everyday ‘whether it’s for yourself or someone, especially for someone else, is good’, he said.

He encouraged the students to focus on empathy and not ‘divide and conquer’ which he marks as ‘boring’, as they progress in their future be it at college or at their workplace. He advised them to be stylish and ahead of the curve by practicing harmony.

He claimed that empathy has obtained him a lot of success not just in his career but also in his life. This radical act of empathy has gained him fame, money, friends, and many priceless memories. It has made him happy by allowing him to fully accept and provide love, also recognize the mistakes he has made and learn from them.

He ended the speech by declaring that each student of the graduating class of 2020 at Kitsilano would receive a free large pizza from Nat’s Pizza in Vancouver (which Reynolds purchased for them via gift cards). The restaurant was one of his favorite spots during his high school years and he misses the place very much.