1975 Saint John Spring Convocation
Graduation Address
Delivered by: Fairweather, R. Gordon L.
Content
"Dr. John M. Anderson Tells Graduating Class: UNBSJ Achieves Full Bloom" Telegraph-Journal (17 May 1975). (UA Case 67, Box 2)
Gordon L. Fairweather (MP Fundy Royal) in his convocation address said a good rule in life is to avoid taking yourself too seriously.
Mr. Fairweather challenged the students.
"I ask several things of you...I ask humor, I ask perspective, I ask awe. I ask courage I ask honor."
Elaborating he said "it’s part of my thesis that most of us take ourselves much too seriously, that we tend to overestimate our roles and pay too much attention to what I call the trappings of office or position.
"My generation is guiltier of this tendency than is yours. You invariably chose not to judge by means of outer signs and symbols," said Mr. Fairweather.
He also asked the graduates not to indulge in "mindless criticism and cynicism" while discussing the present age.
"It is important not to become disillusioned or cynical...To prevent an honest effort to come to terms with the price tag that history has placed on our civilization. We must not forget that we are a link in the continuum of human progress."
Mr. Fairweather urged them to seek inspiration from American writer Ralph Waldo Emerson’s phrase "every wall is a door."
"Let us not look for the door, and the way out, anywhere but the wall against which we are living. Instead, let us seek the respite where it is—in the very thick of the battle," said Mr. Fairweather.
Gordon L. Fairweather (MP Fundy Royal) in his convocation address said a good rule in life is to avoid taking yourself too seriously.
Mr. Fairweather challenged the students.
"I ask several things of you...I ask humor, I ask perspective, I ask awe. I ask courage I ask honor."
Elaborating he said "it’s part of my thesis that most of us take ourselves much too seriously, that we tend to overestimate our roles and pay too much attention to what I call the trappings of office or position.
"My generation is guiltier of this tendency than is yours. You invariably chose not to judge by means of outer signs and symbols," said Mr. Fairweather.
He also asked the graduates not to indulge in "mindless criticism and cynicism" while discussing the present age.
"It is important not to become disillusioned or cynical...To prevent an honest effort to come to terms with the price tag that history has placed on our civilization. We must not forget that we are a link in the continuum of human progress."
Mr. Fairweather urged them to seek inspiration from American writer Ralph Waldo Emerson’s phrase "every wall is a door."
"Let us not look for the door, and the way out, anywhere but the wall against which we are living. Instead, let us seek the respite where it is—in the very thick of the battle," said Mr. Fairweather.
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