2003 Fredericton Encaenia - Ceremony C
Graduation Address
Delivered by: Fotheringham, Allan
Content
"Encaenia Address, Ceremony C." (29 May 2003). (UA Case 67, Box 3)
Graduates, I would like to tell you a little story. Back in 1954, when the earth was still cooling, I graduated with a B.A. from the University of British Columbia. Since then, I have been greatly amused at watching my Alma Mater honour people through honorary degrees. Joe Schlesinger, the CBC guy, who was editor of the campus paper the year before me, never graduated and now has an honorary degree from UBC.
Peter C. Newman, who never attended a class at UBC, has been given an honorary degree. John Turner has got one. So has Pierre Burton.
The current president of UBC is Martha Piper, who President MacLaughlin no doubt knows well. Several times a year she comes to Toronto, where I live, to throw banquets in trying to get money from UBC grads who live in Toronto. She always invites me and asks my help in tracking down rich grads from my old university.
The first thing I’m going to do tomorrow is take a clip from The Daily Gleaner, recording this event today which will announce that this is the first and only honorary degree I have ever received – and from the fine University of New Brunswick – and mail it to Martha Piper. As Bobby Kennedy used to say: don’t get mad, get even.
Graduates, I have only three pieces of advice for you. You have just finished with a great education from the oldest public university in North America, with a proud tradition in a lovely setting. The first thing you should do is travel.
I’ve been everywhere in the world, through 89 countries. Best of all, I did it on someone else’s money. The greatest invention in the history of civilization is not the wheel. Not fire. Not electricity. It’s the expense account.
You won’t start out with one, but you can start out as I did, back-packing through the youth hostels of Europe, bumming through Nepal – my son rode his mountain bike from Beijing – retracing the route of Marco Polo on his famous Silk Road – all the way to Afghanistan. Took four month and he ended up in jail only three times.
You’ve got a good degree, but travel is the greatest education of all. And the main reason it is because it gives you perspective. Perspective not on other lands, but on your own country. The more you travel the world, the more you will understand Canada.
I worked on Fleet Street in London for several years and could have made a good living there. I worked in Washington for five years and could have made a very good living there. But I write and live in Canada because I know it’s the best country in the world – because I’ve seen all the rest of the world.
My second piece of advice is: don’t get married until you are 30. Because if you do, you get captured in mortgages and car payments and children and all the rest – and you won’t be able to travel and get the real education.
And my third and final piece of advice: don’t forget to floss.
Thank you.
Graduates, I would like to tell you a little story. Back in 1954, when the earth was still cooling, I graduated with a B.A. from the University of British Columbia. Since then, I have been greatly amused at watching my Alma Mater honour people through honorary degrees. Joe Schlesinger, the CBC guy, who was editor of the campus paper the year before me, never graduated and now has an honorary degree from UBC.
Peter C. Newman, who never attended a class at UBC, has been given an honorary degree. John Turner has got one. So has Pierre Burton.
The current president of UBC is Martha Piper, who President MacLaughlin no doubt knows well. Several times a year she comes to Toronto, where I live, to throw banquets in trying to get money from UBC grads who live in Toronto. She always invites me and asks my help in tracking down rich grads from my old university.
The first thing I’m going to do tomorrow is take a clip from The Daily Gleaner, recording this event today which will announce that this is the first and only honorary degree I have ever received – and from the fine University of New Brunswick – and mail it to Martha Piper. As Bobby Kennedy used to say: don’t get mad, get even.
Graduates, I have only three pieces of advice for you. You have just finished with a great education from the oldest public university in North America, with a proud tradition in a lovely setting. The first thing you should do is travel.
I’ve been everywhere in the world, through 89 countries. Best of all, I did it on someone else’s money. The greatest invention in the history of civilization is not the wheel. Not fire. Not electricity. It’s the expense account.
You won’t start out with one, but you can start out as I did, back-packing through the youth hostels of Europe, bumming through Nepal – my son rode his mountain bike from Beijing – retracing the route of Marco Polo on his famous Silk Road – all the way to Afghanistan. Took four month and he ended up in jail only three times.
You’ve got a good degree, but travel is the greatest education of all. And the main reason it is because it gives you perspective. Perspective not on other lands, but on your own country. The more you travel the world, the more you will understand Canada.
I worked on Fleet Street in London for several years and could have made a good living there. I worked in Washington for five years and could have made a very good living there. But I write and live in Canada because I know it’s the best country in the world – because I’ve seen all the rest of the world.
My second piece of advice is: don’t get married until you are 30. Because if you do, you get captured in mortgages and car payments and children and all the rest – and you won’t be able to travel and get the real education.
And my third and final piece of advice: don’t forget to floss.
Thank you.
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