At the graduation ceremony on Tuesday, the following speech left me feeling so inspired and motivated to get up, get out there and do something good. So, I went back to the graduation webcast video and noted it down. Perhaps a little sad but with no job and not much else to do at the moment, I thought it is something worthy remembering for the near and distant future.
I also think the following sentiments may be used by anyone, not just a graduate.
Mr Alexander McLean at the University of Nottingham graduation for the faculty of social sciences-19th July 2011:
"My first point is the importance of education. As you leave this place, I urge you to go out with your eyes open. To look for more opportunities to learn, both informally and formally. My greatest education has come from the mistakes that I have made. You’ll make mistakes too but when you do I urge you to take them as chances to learn, to pick yourself up and carry on. The one who makes no mistakes is the one who does nothing at all.
My second point is the importance of relationships. You see me standing here, judged by someone at this university to have something of worth sharing with you, but you don’t see those on whose shoulders I’m leaning. My family and friends, mentors and colleagues who’ve helped me refine me into the person I am. I urge you to invest in those people who’ve helped you to get here today.
Relationships that you started at this university can last you for the rest of your lives. Invest in them.
My third point is the importance of vision. Since I was 16 years old I volunteered at a hospice in London. And in Africa I’ve done a lot of work with people who are coming to the end of their lives… I’ve been privileged to share with them. It made me think what I would like to have written in my obituary after I die… I hope it will be a very long time before any of you do. It made me think about the importance of having a vision and being clear about what we want from our lives.
When I was in my second year here at Nottingham, I became a magistrate at Nottingham magistrates court. Combined with my experience in prisons in Africa, it’s given me a passion for justice. Both justice that can be received both inside and outside of the courtroom. Hannah (my wife) and I intend to spend our lives serving the destitute.
A friend of mine who has a clear vision for his life is a man called Benjamin. I met him when we were both 19 years old in Kampala, Uganda. Since that age, Benjamin has studied for O levels and A levels and this year we’re helping him to apply to the University of London to study for his LLB by correspondence. When Benjamin was 16, he was taken to prison and when I met him at the age of 19, he’d been sentenced to death. Benjamin is becoming a lawyer because lawyers failed him and he sees that lawyers can save lives, both his own and that of others.
Another famous person who studied law whilst in prison and who went on to transform nations was Nelson Mandela who also studied with the University of London. He used his knowledge in education of law to transform a nation. For more than 130 years, students have been graduating from this institution. Some of them have gone on to be nobel prize winners, others, prime ministers, others, lords.
My final point is that nothing can hold you back other than yourselves. Each of you is capable of achieving tremendous things with your lives. It’s taken determination and hard work to get this far. I urge you to go out and use that same determination and hard work to be the change you want to see in the world. Congratulations.”
