Ryan Reynolds delivers nuggets of wisdom to graduating students at Kitsilano secondary school

Kitsilano secondary's most famous grad has delivered an upbeat and self-deprecating videotaped message to this year's Grade 12 students.

"One thing that's worked for me is practising some form of compassion every day, whether it's for yourself or someone else—especially for someone else is good," Ryan Reynolds advises in a video posted on YouTube today.

He contrasts that with the divide-and-conquer mindset, which he sees everywhere.

"And dividing people is just like a means to distract them, disarm them," the actor says.

Then he adds that this desire to conquer is "just getting really fucking boring"—without once mentioning any of them (Donald Trump? Viktor Orbán? Nigel Farage?) by name.

"It's just overdone," Reynolds declares. "I think you guys want to be stylish and ahead of the curve."

So how does one accomplish that? According to Reynolds, it's by practising empathy.

He calls this a "radical act of ambition".

"To my surprise, this has made me money, friends, priceless memories," Reynolds concedes. "It's allowed me to fully accept and provide love. It's helped me recognize the mistakes I've made and learn from them. And above all, it made me happy."

He even manages to include a shout-out to Nat's New York Pizzeria at 2684 West Broadway.