Valedictory Address

“Valedictory Address” (27 May 1993): 1-13. (UA Case 68, Box 2)

Your Honor, Mr. Chancellor, Mr. President, distinguished members of the platform party, faculty, parents, relatives, friends, and fellow Graduates:

I cannot begin to describe to you how honored and privileged I feel to be standing here before you today, delivering this address on behalf of the graduating class of 1993.

I can say that no, but it wasn’t that long ago that I was having second thoughts about doing this.

When I first sat down to start writing this speech only two things came to mind:

The first thing was, “what the heck was I thinking about?” Then, like any good university student, I thought, “Well, maybe I can get an extension.”

So as I stared into a blank computer screen, I thought back to what originally motivated me to risk an ulcer just to speak at about 5000 close, personal friends.

You see, it all started this past Christmas.

I got engaged on Christmas day and on December 28th I went home from my fiance’s only to find that the power was out, and would be for several hours.

This is not what you want to hear in late December in New Brunswick. So I packed up my things and headed over to spend the night at my Grandmother’s

I stopped at Tim Horton’s on my way and everything seemed pretty normal.

However, things aren’t always as they seem.

My Grandmother died suddenly of a heart attack the next day.

Later that same day, I went over to my fiance’s and our Godson, James, was there. He was only about 10 months old at the time.

I remember thinking about all of incredible things that my Grandmother had done and at the same time wondering what was going to become of the little boy standing in front of me, completely oblivious of what was happening. All that was important to him was that you fed him, changed his diapers every so often, and didn’t play with his toys when he wanted them.

I wondered…with unemployment,
violent crimes,
education costs,
taxes, and so on…all on the rise,
the ozone layer thinning,
a world-wide aids epidemic,
and all of the problems in the world today, what kind of world James would have 20 years from now when he’s sitting in the same seats we’ve been sitting in for the last 3 to 7 years.

It can get pretty depressing.

I’m sure you have all heard the expression, “We do not own the earth; we borrow it from our children.” Well as I see it, the children have come of age.

As I’m standing up here looking out at all of you, I see a lot of friends, and I see a lot in you that I see in myself.

We’ve been through so much together these past few years.

We’ve all suffered through 8:30 classes.

We’ve all suffered through the occasional hangover and the late nights of cramming before a final and, although it’s never happened to me personally, I understand that some of you actually, on rare occasions, had to suffer through a boring lecture or two.

I shudder at the thought, but we all have our own special memories that we’ll never forget.

Most importantly though, we all have our education and for that we all have to thank our parents, our professors, our friends, and the many other people along the way who helped us get through the rough times – you know who you are.

In today’s society, education is really the key, not only academically but extracurricularly as well, and university has allowed us to fulfill both aspects.

Personally, I spent most of my so-called “Spare time” working in the promotions department at CIHI and CKHJ Radio and I learned a lot of thing that can’t be measured by a test or exam.

I was working a couple of weeks ago and I came across a statistic that said that 38% of all Canadians over the age of 16 cannot read well if at all; that’s four and a half million people.

I also found out that as of 1989, only 10% of Canadians has a University degree.

Our diplomas today automatically place us among society’s elite.

We are no longer just students – we’re graduates and that means something.

That means that the world is ours for the taking because our education here at UNB has prepared us for what lies ahead.

For me, a career in optometry lies ahead – so the next time I’m looking out at all of you I hope it’s in my waiting room.

I want you to think back about what you’ve gone through over the past 4 years or so.

Not one of you can say that you’re the same person that you were when you started university.

Orientation alone changes some people forever; that’s why UNB has such a successful psychology department.

We’ve all worked hard.

Look around you. There are doctors, lawyers, teachers, engineers, nurses, accountants, foresters, and so on.

We are the future of this world and no one can change that.

Today is our day and so is the next and the next.

We are here, we are the future and the future is now, and this takes me back to where I started.

This is why I’m not worried about what the future holds for my godson James, because it belongs to us, to you and to me, and I believe in all of you as much as I believe in myself because I know what you’ve done through these past few years.

A very wise man once said:

“It is from numberless diverse acts of courage and belief that human history is shaped. Each time a [person] stands up for an ideal, or acts to improve the lot of others, or strikes out against injustice, he sends forth a tiny ripple of hope, and crossing each other from a million different centers of energy and daring, those ripples build a current that can sweep down the mightiest walls of oppression and resistance…”

That wise man was the late senator Robert F. Kennedy and he spoke those words at the 15th annual convocation on October 12, 1967, right here at UNB and that my fellow graduates is the challenge that awaits us – to leave here today, not just with the knowledge, but also with the confidence, that we can make a difference.

Our education here at UNB has provided us the foundation upon which change can be built, but the responsibility now falls squarely on our shoulders to us that knowledge to implement real change so that there will be a future, not only for our children, but our children’s children.

As a class we’ve accomplished a lot over the past few years and this year we even made the grad class project the most successful one in UNB history, but now it’s up to each of us to make our mark.

Then 20 years from now, when we’re all 20 pounds overweight and going through our first midlife crisis, we’ll all come back.

We’ll remember all the great times that we’ve had here, the terrific friends, the wild socials, sitting on those wonderful hard chairs for 3 hours and you’ll remember thinking:

“I thought he’d never shut up.”

Thank you and best of luck to all of you.