Valedictory Address

“Valedictory Speech” (23 May 1996): 1-4. (UA Case 68, Box 2)

It’s funny, you know. For the past 2 summers, I have been working at the Student Union Building, and I have ended up helping the graduates pin on their sashes. It seems that at that specific moment every one needs help, even graduates. They just seemed to form a line-up at the Help Centre and the action began: We started to pin on their sashes. Well, this morning my hands went numb and I believe I totally forgot how to use a safety pin or how the sash went on. I had to stand in line.

The French writer Alexis Carrel once wrote that “The atmosphere of libraries, lecture rooms and laboratories is dangerous to those who shut themselves up in them for too long. It separates them from reality like a fog.” I’m sure we have not devoted all of our time to the library and lecture halls of UNB but we have been partially cooped up in them at specific times during our study. The one thing I realize now is that we must remind ourselves to be conscious of what we have achieved and what we are heading for.

What we have learned has given us a new sense of reality. The cumulative effect of those things I have learned over the past year astounds me. For example, I have learned that most people believe that enough gender equality exists. I’ve also learned to disagree. Ideas like these have become part of our subconscious now. They allow us to see a new side of things. We must simply remember to take what we have learned, add to it ourselves, and do something with it.

The German playwright Bertolt Brecht once said: “Change the world – it can do with it!” This seems an appropriate phrase for us. We tend to look at our degrees as pieces of paper that outline our newly acquired status and hope that this will get us a position in our capitalist world. Yet we must know that this piece of paper is not all that we are. Yes, it demonstrates to a certain extent, and to others, a standard of knowledge that we have gained. However, the importance here is to know that we are more than this degree. We may need the knowledge that we have gained here, the knowledge that has been given to us from textbooks and lecturers, but we must join it with that which is already within ourselves – our instincts, our attitudes, and our personalities – to make it us.

There is so much more that we have gained that can never be shown by looking at this piece of paper we are receiving today. Ultimately, we should be yearning to fulfill ourselves and this is possible only through broadening what we know beyond our university experiences, whether in work, travel, or further academic studies.

My involvement with the university and the Student Union, particularly in this last year, has given me a new insight into a collection of areas – the university administration, bureaucracy, and perhaps, most importantly people. I know we have not all been involves with the Student Union to a great degree but we all have been involved in some activities, whether it be through a club (SocialClub) or society, going to the Cellar or a concert on campus, helping in the community, or simply taking part in Orientation. Any of these things makes you a participant and shows that you have given to yourself more than your degree can say. This effort alone demonstrates that you alone have done something aside from sitting in laboratories, lecture halls, or the library. You have added to yourself. Use this knowledge to further yourself, to better understand yourself and the people around you.

But this is not the end. We are learning always. Ask anyone around the Student Union and they’ll confirm that almost every day during the past year I have uttered the words “Well, at least I can chalk it up to another life experience.” There is always some quick thought, concept, idea, catchy phrase or form of action you can use in any situation, or save for another time.

What we have learned at UNB, whether it be associated with Computer Science, Nursing, or the diverse Arts Faculty, we know that the knowledge we associate with this degree is not part of our complete selves. It is what we do with this knowledge that makes us unique individuals. Our personalities contribute to our actual knowledge and ever-expanding capacity to search for more knowledge. It’s overwhelming when you think we have all achieved the same thing. Sure, we’re all receiving a diploma or certificate, and most of us had to stand in that line up this morning to get our sashes pinned on.

However, ultimately, what I think we should leave with today is this: We are more than our education. We are the music that we listen to. We are the books we decide to read or the movies we decide to watch. It is not what our education gives us but what we choose to take from it. As Bob Dylan once said: “I believe that instinct is what makes a genius a genius.” So, use your instinct and let’s prove him right.