Valedictory Address

“UNB Valedictory Address” (25 May 1995): 1-7. (UA Case 68, Box 1)

When I began to think about what I might say here today I first thought I should be brief in order to keep in mind that today is for the individual – the individual graduates and our families.

I also thought what an honour it is to speak on behalf of a class of the mid-90’s and the present challenges we face, particularly as a so-called “returning student”, back for a further degree after having been “out there”.

I was born in the 1960’s and read must about the students of those days. Now, with you, I am a part of our 90’s generation – the so called “Generation X”.

David Foote, a respected social scientist and demographer, during a recent guest lecture here at UNB said: “The situation that faces the present generation entering the work-force is far from different from those of past generations. In short, it was easier then; there were more upper echelon positions available to work towards.”

To my way of thinking I believe our 90’s Generation X is the one closest to the 60’s, not in the world shaking sense of that era, but in the kind of societies that we both found on graduation.

The students of the 60’s found a society which had lost its way – its compass – its sense of values. It was an establishment society perhaps best typified by the phrase of those days “What’s good for general bull moose is good for everyone” – which may loosely be translated in today’s phrase “I’m alright jack, keep you hands off of my stack”.

The Youth of the 60’s were told to buckle under – to accept what their leaders were saying – without question. But they refused. For the most part those students were a lone voice who set about to find their own way, with their own values. And they sure did!

In many real ways I believe that our Generation X has, in large measure, also been left to find it’s own way, but with a very big difference, and that is that our Generation X is not alone.

All we have to do is look around and we will see that there are many Generation X’s out there in the 90’s. Other people who find themselves with no role to play in today’s society.

There is the Generation X of the unemployed and the Underemployed seeking to find their way.

There is the Generation X of the homeless. There is the Generation X of the food bank dependents trying to find their own ways. There are the Generation X’s of the single parents and the isolated, and the list goes on.

Just a few short years ago we seemed to have a pretty good handle on a 50-50 sharing and caring society. A society with a belief in, and a will for, universal standards and a deep concern for the unemployed and disadvantaged.

Now we seem headed for a 20-80 society where 20% will have a life, with the remaining 80% to await what is being decided for them to do. A society where it seems that the latest polls or about 200 nameless money changers somewhere can affect government priorities and human values with a push of a profit button.

We as graduates are riding the same tide and times as these other Generation X’s but we have been blessed with the opportunities of an advanced education and an increased chance to earn livings, raise families and achieve an independence that others have not.

In this age if euphemisms and politically correct language, I find the following short comments by a retired union member in Studs Turkel’s Pulitzer prize winning novel “The Great Divide” very refreshing:

(Back a few years) you had a whole society who was caring about their fellow man, about someone goin’ hungry. You had guys in congress sayin’, the measure of our society is how we treat our old people. Our sick people, and those who can’t take care of themselves. They keep talkin’ about these service industries, where there’s more employment. Anybody with an ounce of brains knows we can’t all sell hamburgers to each other. Caring for lawns or whatever service you’re in does not produce anything. A man sweats, he should be producing something, making something. We ain’t producing.

We as a society must regain our focus and resume producing things worthwhile for people. Not greener lawns. Not fancier computerized presentation packages. But rather, better medicines. More efficient manufacturing processes to protect our environment. Fairer systems to deal with the somehow disadvantaged. Again the list goes on.

I believe that if our generation is to be worthwhile towards building a good society we must stay aware that our 90’s generation is not alone and that we have many fellow travelers alongside us who are facing hard, human problems. Let us stay aware by taking a real interest in the communities and neighbourhoods where we go to work and live and by advancing their interests and their concerns and not just our own.

And so that we do not lose our own way let us remember in these fast changing times the old quote – “To our own selves be true” – true to ourselves – true to our neighbours – true to the values that built this country – and true to our environment.

If we have to enter and live in an ever increasingly tolerant society, let us have the courage to hold true to our fellow travelers of the 1990’s and be intolerant back – intolerant with poverty – intolerant with high unemployment and intolerant with homelessness.

Let us in the words of our UNB motto “Dare to be great” – to take risks and to accept the failures that will come in the normal course of events.

But most importantly, let us make our mark as the 90’s generation by not only daring to be great as graduates of UNB ’95, but as active citizens and as active members of a caring society.

There are exciting challenges out there waiting for us and I know we will greet them with confidence and enthusiasm.

I will finish in this spirit with the words from Stan Rogers, written in and for our times:

And through the night, behind the wheel,
The mileage clicking west,
I think upon MacKenzie, David Thompson & the rest,
Who cracked the mountain ramparts,
And did show a path for me,
To race the roaring frazer to the sea.

My fellow graduates, it has been great going to school with you and I look forward to getting together at our future reunions.

Thank you.