Alumni Oration

"Address to the Alumni of the University of New Brunswick by Horace M. Block" (1962): 1-15. (UA Case 67a, Box 2)

May I say at the outset, that it has been my intention over the past few years to pay a visit to this fine building. Somehow or other the opportunity always seemed to pass me by....Until tonight.

I therefore thank you, one and all, for making this visit possible and, at the same time for providing me with such a large and goodly audience.....I must confess that the temptation provided by this opportunity to express a few thoughts, which pass through my mind from time to time, proved too strong for me, despite my acknowledged inadequacy as an orator for this occasion.

But let me reassure you. I believe that what I have to say can be said in no more than twenty minutes so that your ordeal, whatever else it may be, will be short.

Twenty-five years ago, in 1937, the year of my graduation, I would have taken a wager that that year by this time, would be considered one of the "vintage" years of the twentieth century.

I wouldn't care to press the point tonight.

My confidence of twenty-five years ago, I should explain, was not based on the belief that either myself or my classmates were so brilliant that we would stamp an indelible imprint upon our life and times.

For my part, I might as well confess right now, that I graduated near the foot of my class…If I didn't tell you that I am sure someone would have before this evening is over.

You can keep secrets for just so long, in Fredericton, you know.

I was, however, very much impressed in those days with the intelligence of my classmates, some of whom had learned special skills but all of whom, it seemed to me, had managed to gather unto themselves a broad general education.

And some of them, indeed, have done exceedingly well. The Rev. Bob Dann, one of Toronto's leading Anglican clergymen. George Olts who has had a distinguished career as an engineer. Gerald Waring, who is one of Canada's most respected journalists. And many others.

And some of us have not done so well.

But all of us....There were really not too many....Had a certain attitude towards life and a certain perspective which seems to be lacking among the young people of today, and which helped to meld us together into a homogeneous group.

That is not to say that we all looked alike....Even in those days, I can assure you, the girls were a lot nicer to look at than the boys...And they still are, thank heaven.

Nor did we always think alike.

But we had a common bond of understanding, I believe, as to our role in helping to save the world—for those were the terrible depression days....You will recall—at least some of you will recall—and the war clouds hung threateningly above us.

In some respects we were a dauntless crew. Nothing that smacked of injustice escaped our notice. And we tilted our lances like a corporal's guard of Don Quixotes at every social, political and economic ill.

For my part, I recall stirring up a fuss as a result of an editorial in the Brunswickan which took issue with the fact that the province had the nation's highest illiteracy rate. And I also recall a heated argument with my dear departed friend Jack Thurrott about what Canada's role would be in the event of war.

Others had similar experiences.

In short, it as a rather brave and exciting and perhaps frequently foolish period.

But from what has happened in the past quarter century I am in doubt as to whether our contribution to society has been anywhere near as great as one could have expected from us in those wild-eyed thirties.

I am reminded of a little joke my friend Jim Colby has told me...Not infrequently, I might add...It is, perhaps, apropos.

A dear old lady, on hearing that her rascal of a son was the object of much censure among her friends and acquaintances, replied with spirit....

"The worst thing they can say about my son Danny is that he is a thief."

And, perhaps, the worst thing they can say about us is that the world is no better for our having lived in it.

Yet, perhaps it is.

It is so difficult to measure man's advancement compared to the developments which occur in the fields of science and technology.

In the course of the work by means of which I earn my daily bread, I frequently find myself in close touch with those who are, in one way or another, associated with some of the most dramatic scientific and technological breakthroughs of our era.

I find it necessary to learn something of the projects associated with man’s entry into space: something of that fantastic device called a computer, which some scientists dismiss as being no threat to man, but which, even at today's relatively early stage of development, is forcing us to rewrite the definition of intelligence! And a little about the technological development of the future associated with research into the field of microminiaturization.

These are the things which are shrinking our world and the things in it and changing our concepts of space and time.

Heaven only knows, the world itself seems to be pretty small now.

In my day at U.N.B., the great campus heroes were the football, hockey and basketball players...And the chaps who had visited Europe by virtue of their willingness to act as nursemaids to seaborne cattle.

Today, Europe is so near that if you haven't seen it by the time you've reached twenty...Well, that's really like square, man.

In fact, a trip to Europe or Asia or South America hardly rates an arched eyebrow any more. The citizens of this planet are, in a very real sense, becoming neighbours...And it's all quite cosy or should be.

What I am attempting to say, of course, is that at some unmarked point during the past quarter century, we imperceptibly moved out of the modern age and into a new, as yet nameless, era.

Anyone over forty lives in a different world from that in which he came to manhood. He lives, today, as if he had emigrated fully grown, to a new and strange country. And it is almost frightening that, what he considers to be obvious with regard to the past, is almost incomprehensible to those who have recently come to maturity.

We have changed and are changing in so many ways...If someone, for example, had told you 25 years ago that you would be eating fried locusts, or chocolate covered ants, or frozen dinners, or artichokes, or chop suey or suki yaki you might well have seen disposed to say....

"Same to you, fella."....Or more appropriate to the period, "Go peddle your papers, buster."

Or if someone had said you would be wearing clothes made from coal and gases and heaven only knows what, you might have replied...

"My dear sir, I would not be found dead in ersatz clothing."

And again, if someone had broached the subject of Great Britain joining an organization such as the European common market, which not only has economic but political overtones, we would have been outraged at the mere mention of it...And, of course, we would have considered it unthinkable that Canada one day not only would pave the way for South Africa's ouster from the Commonwealth, but that most Canadians would applaud the act.

It is true, then, that we have changed...At least our attitude towards many things have changed...Our attitude towards food, clothes, towards politics, towards labor, towards art and to so many other things which are self-evident. But have the changes seen really important?

And how do they stack up against the scientific technological advances which I mentioned a few moments ago?

In my view, the really worthwhile changes are those which are concerned with the improvement in human relationships.

What I can't ever forget is that all the scientific and technical knowledge of the ages somehow seems to get distilled and communicated to succeeding generations of scientists and engineers and biologists who, unfailingly, use this knowledge as a base for new adventures, new inventions and new concepts.

In the area of human relationships, however, it seems necessary for man to re-invent the wheel ...Time, after time ... After time.

Basically, we have changed so little over the centuries, some of you, perhaps, may disagree with this viewpoint. And perhaps you are right.

But whenever I start feeling unsure of my position, I attend a performance of one of Shakespear's more dramatic plays and I find myself reacting to the stirring words and the situations much as the audiences of his day must have.

Marc Antony's oration following the death of Caesar could be transplanted to the present ... And with the substitution of a few names and words could, in the hands of a demagogue, serve admirably to rouse any audience to any cause.

We still seem to have no defence against the big lie ...We are gullible beyond belief ... We can be made to see evil where none exists ... And we can be made to ignore it where it does. Many of us still distrust the man who speaks with an accent, whose skin is swarthier, whose religion is unknown and whose customs are unlike ours.

Many of us are superstitious still and unreasonable with regard to what is euphemistically referred to as a "threat to property values" ... (Property seems to be the most sacrosanct thing in our civilization today) ... And illogical with regard to situations which, deep in our hearts, we know are wrong.

It seems incomprehensible to me that such things could be in the enlightened age. Yet they are.

But perhaps not as generally so, as they were.

One does feel, somehow, that there is a force making itself felt around the world which, for want of a better description, I will call a wave of enlightenment.

This wave, as it laps over us from time to time, is hopefully adding another layer of civilization, however thin, to our basic savage nature.

I have already mentioned the general Canadian revulsion to actions in South Africa.

It can be sensed in the more scientific approach to human relations which exists in industry today.

It is clearly demonstrated in our approach to those who are afflicted with mental illness and with incurable diseases and with alcoholism ... And with the thousand and one indignities the human body and the intellect fall heir to.

Who would ever have thought, some 25 years ago, ... Some 15 years ago, in fact, that France and Germany would one day be working together, not only towards economic unity but towards political union as well.

Yes, one must admit that in various ways there have been changes and advancements, and with these changes and advancements, more effort on most people's part to appreciate the need for understanding and respect of his fellow man. and there is even, perhaps, a growing desire to live in harmony with him ... A most remarkable thing, to say the least.

Now, 25 years ago, with all these accomplishments to point to, I would have jumped to the conclusion that man's victory over his baser nature was in sight.

But my classmates and I ... We are not so naive today as we were back in 1937.

We would, on reflection, come to the conclusion, perhaps, that the world is not yet free from the danger of evil men with honied tongues.

We would understand that in the realm of human relationships, we do not always go forward unswervingly, as we do in science.

We may make still greater progress in the years to come ... but we will slip backwards, too.

Who would be confident enough to predict that never again would men, who had won that most precious of gifts ...Their liberty ... Not be prepared to give it up without striking a blow?

Who would be confident enough to predict that a Laval might not rise again in France; a Huey Long in the United States ... That someone even in this country might not seek power by turning man against man and brother against brother ... And by making a mockery of the religious and ethical teachings so many of us pay only lip service to?

I would not want to do so.

But should such dire things ever come to pass, somehow I feel that even then, man would start the rebuilding process in advance of where he would have been, had he not previously made an effort towards civilizing himself.

Maybe as individuals we have not accomplished a great deal. But since something of value has transpired in the realm of human relationships within the past quarter century, and since we have been ... All of us .. Actors on the world stage, I feel that it is only fair if we lay claim to some of the credit for what has happened and is happening.

Mind you, in terms of technological and scientific advancement the achievement is puny. But something has been accomplished.

And to accomplish something, no matter how small, is gratifying.

I only hope that succeeding generations will continue to accomplish "something."

And I am not worrying simply because I am getting old. Perish the thought. I never felt younger.

But I get upset when I try to explain to a young university student why people were like they were in the thirties, and he replies that the reason was probably a lack of communication ... Which is a good 1962 word, but rather inadequate for interpreting a depression.

I get upset when I see industry's concentration on specialization. There is a specialist for this and a specialist for that. In far too many companies you’re interviewed and tested and psychoanalyzed and pigeon-holed.

Now then, I'm not against specialization as such. It is important in this day and age. But I’m against specialization to the exclusion of everything else.

Even today, I believe that to be an effective person everyone, whatever his work, needs certain foundations ... A foundation in the knowledge of man, his greatness, and his wretchedness, his personality, his history and his society. He also needs, of course, to strive for excellence in one particular area.

And no person can be considered to be well educated, in my view, unless he does have knowledge of the world about him ... Even up to and beyond the day that they start building computers with brains.

I simply can't understand the lack of interest so many young men have with regard to the political figures of our time. I had the honour of working closely last fall with the former president of Argentina, Arturo Frondizi, ... A great man ... And a great force for good in this world ...But when I tried to convey the image of the man and what he stood for to some young friends, all I got were polite yawns.

After all is said and done, people do things ... People create things ... People decide things .. In fact, it is people who will determine whether or not the inhabitants of this planet will prove worthy of their machines.

I speak so glibly of civilization.

I suppose the great teachers who attempted to instill some knowledge into us at this university, may have found us slightly on the barbaric side ... And perhaps they still do.

As a matter of fact, I must confess that even today when I meet those learned, wise and patient men, who attempted to impart something of their knowledge and wisdom to us, I blush with mortification at my own shortcomings.

I cringe when I see Professor Cattley and remember what a difficult time I gave him.

I shudder with the thought that Dr. Argue, that charming and sophisticated man, might remember how many classes I missed and, when I did attend, how wretchedly I dissected that frog.

I stand in awe of Dr. Toole today, as I stood in awe of him a quarter of a century ago.

These great men are typical of those who have helped make the University of New Brunswick one of the great universities ... Not in size, or wealth, or even in learning, perhaps .....

But surely in the all important area of human understanding, and in its appreciation of the fact that education needs the humanities and the sciences and the arts to turn out an "educated" man.

These words evoke memories of other great and wise men whom I was privileged to meet and to know during my four years at U.N.B. ... Dr. Jones and Dr. Keirstead, great gentlemen and great scholars, both ... The inimitable Blinky Stevens, ... The distinguished Dr. Turner ... Professor Pugh and Scrapper Jones and Burton Keirstead ... The warm and understanding and immensely capable Dr. Gibson ... And many others.

Possessing that indefinable quality which etched itself into the conscious or sub-conscious mind, of those with whom they came in contact ... They enriched us all, whatever our course of study.

I revel in the thought that the university today — large as it is, still has many on its staff of equal nobility of character and competence.

There has, of course, been a tremendous change in the physical appearance of the university ... And in its size ...Sufficient, indeed, to raise doubts in the minds of some, as to whether or not this was a "good" thing.

In my view, however, the president, aided and guided by the senate and faculty, has been able not only to retain, but even to strengthen the traditions and the spirit of this university which we love and cherish.

The past twenty-five years have been momentous ones. We have been witness to the greatest depression of modern times ...We participated, in one way or another, in the greatest war in history ... We have seen the dawn of the era of automation ... And of man's entry into space.

All of these historic events have had, or will have, a profound bearing on our lives. And they will have a profound bearing on the lives of those who will follow us.

President Mackay ... It would have pleased me mightily to have been able to present a substantial cheque to you tonight on behalf of the class of 1937.

Unfortunately, that is not to be.

In lieu of it, however, may I be permitted to offer you advice which will be worth far more than any sum we might have mustered ...

Despite the winds of change which blow so strongly about us, continue to hold fast, as you have done so steadfastly over the years, against any change, that would alter the basic character of this university.

For here, indeed, is a centre of learning and wisdom ...A bastion against the onslaughts of evil ... An arsenal from which pour forth the truly educated men and women who have duly learned that, in the words of judge learned hand:

"Freedom is but the responsibility to choose between service to a true, and to a false master."