Doing All the Good You Can: Address to the Graduating Class of 2009
June 20, 2009

Do all the good you can, by all the means you can, in all the ways you can, in all the places you can, at all the times you can, to all the people you can, as long as you can.

So urged John Wesley, the great English preacher, more than two hundred years ago. 
Although they may sound naïve to the modern ear, Wesley’s words capture the essence of my message to the graduating class of 2009.

The world our graduates are entering is very different from the world that welcomed me as I set off for university 35 years ago.  Back in 1974, the most popular TV show was “Happy Days.”  The Fonz was our idea of teenage rebellion.  “Blazing Saddles” was the movie everybody was talking about, and Barbara Streisand was topping the charts with her hit song “The Way We Were.”  As some of you may recall, mullet hair cuts were the height of style, not a way of raising money for charitable causes.

By contrast, as we begin the summer of 2009, the world is a much grumpier place.
The recession has created a mood of uncertainty that all too often brings out our selfishness and our suspicion, rather than our altruism and cooperative spirit.  And to make matters worse, there are all of the other problems that we keep hearing about—climate change, globalization, pandemics, nuclear proliferation and terrorism.  As Thomas Friedman has declared in his most recent book, our world is increasingly “hot, flat and crowded.”  Within this context, he explains, we desperately need a generation of thinkers and doers able to create “the tools, systems… and ethics” that will allow us to meet these challenges, while growing “our planet in cleaner, more sustainable ways.”

Despite all of the doom and gloom, I remain optimistic.  The challenges may be greater, but so is our capacity to effect positive change.  To a very large extent, my optimism stems from my contact young people, particularly the students of Hillfield Strathallan College.  Let’s face it.  My generation, the generation that invented mullets, Agent Orange and reality TV, is not likely to be the generation that will heal our wounded our planet.

In fact, recent studies indicate that today’s teenagers are much better prepared than we were to leave the world a better place than they have found it.  According to Reginald Bibby, a leading expert on social trends in Canada, young people today are more altruistic and more responsible than any teen cohort in the past 30 years.
They place “supreme importance on values such as honesty and caring for others,” the research reveals, and they “actually like hanging out with their parents.”

Our graduates provide an interesting case in point.  To start with, they are a wonderfully eclectic, sometimes maddening, and frequently inspiring collection of individuals.  Over the years, they have enriched the life of our community, while sometimes testing the boundaries.  They have taught us much about leadership and service, and they have reminded us that you can’t always judge a book by its cover.
Moreover, through their actions, they have reinforced “values such as honesty and caring for others.”  Initiatives such as the SISO Project, the Fashion Show in support of the United Way and the Pinky Lewis Centre, the CityKidz “Rise and Shine” Leadership Breakfast, Glassco Foundation fundraising, and the CAIS Student Leadership Conference, only represent the tip of the iceberg.  This year alone, HSC students have raised almost $150,000 in support of a wide range of charitable organizations.  An old independent school adage comes to mind:  “Much is expected from those to whom much as been given.”

Graduates of 2009, continue the process of giving back and of meeting the expectations of a needy world.  Be inspired by those around you—our Patrons and their extraordinary lives of service, your teachers, your friends, your parents, your grandparents and other family members.  Continue to provoke us and to inspire us.
We are proud of you, and we are confident in the future that you are making for us, as well as for your children and grandchildren.

More than any other generation in living memory, young people today have the capacity to breathe life into the words of John Wesley:

Do all the good you can, by all the means you can, in all the ways you can, in all the places you can, at all the times you can, to all the people you can, as long as you can.

Like every great school, we make an unspoken commitment to our students and their parents.  We promise that every student will be known and loved during his or her time at the College.  Graduates of 2009, remain confident in the knowledge that you are known and loved.  Like you, we didn’t always get it right, but we have done our best.

In closing, I would like to thank you for your unique, multi-facetted and ongoing contribution to our story.  And as Mary Oliver declares in her stirring poem, “Wild Geese”:

Whoever you are, no matter how lonely,
The world offers itself to your imagination,
calls to you like the wild geese, harsh and exciting—
Over and over announcing your place          
in the family of things.

As you embrace the wide and wonderful world beyond our gates, continue the process of realizing your potential and of bettering the world around you.  In doing so, I know that you will find “your place in the family of things.”