Ecumenical Junior College Class of 2016 Commencement Keynote Address

Hey Class of 2016! Good afternoon and congratulations!

When I was asked to give this commencement speech, the first thing I thought was “Why Me?”. I’m an old white man in Dangriga, you’ve seen lots of us come and go. What could I say that would make this celebration meaningful to you? So I thought back to my high school graduation speaker, cause I never got as far as you all here at Ecumenical Junior College. I only got as far as high school. But reflecting back on my high school graduation speaker help me make up my mind about giving this speech, because it turns out I don’t remember a word of that speech, or even who gave it. So I figured I have nothing to fear that what ever I say will be used against me somehow, or might influence you in any way. It’s nice isn’t it, you won’t be tested on what I say today.

Many of you may not know me or what I do, but I am sure you have seen my work — I’m a photographer. Last year’s phone book cover was one of my photos — the guy climbing a rock face at a water fall. You have probably seen my work on the Belikin calendar; or in the Tropic Airlines magazine, or the work I do with numerous NGO’s like the Belize Audubon Society, The Belize Zoo and Friends for Conservation and Development in Cayo. And of course there is Facebook, so you have probably seen my work. What you might not know is that I’ve also lived in Dangriga longer than most of you, almost 30 years. I’ve traveled to every corner of Belize and documented what I’ve seen. I’ve raised three grigalizeans, all of them attended Ecumenical Junior College, and are now striking out on their own. So now that you know who I am, what I do, and that I am one of you, what words of wisdom do I have for you on this momentous occasion?

And without doubt, to me, the most important thing you can take from here is to respect the environment.

So let’s get on with what most graduation speakers do, pass on to graduates some of the lessons they’ve learned through life. And without doubt, to me, the most important thing you can take from here is to respect the environment. What? You are going to talk about the boring environment when I want to hear about the job market, learn how to begin building a life for me and then get on with the partying? Yes, we have forgotten not just how important the environment is, but that it is the ultimate Global and Belizean problem we all should be talking about.

The environment provides the air we breath; the water we drink; the food we eat. You can only live 3 minutes without air; only 3 days without water; and only 3 weeks without food. The problem is that we have all grown up without even thinking about the air, the water, or our food. We breathe without thinking, we turn on the pipe when we need a drink; we go to Granny’s or Auntie’s or Mom’s house or the store or the fried chicken place when we are hungry.

Everyone take a deep breath. Feels good doesn’t it. But when we burn bush or trash, we are adding particulates — dust — into the air, which in turn eventually end up going into our lungs. After time, our lungs can not handle the dirty air and may develop bronchitus or worse, cancer. Don’t think it can’t happen to us. It is happening today in some places in the world — people actually have to wear masks when going outside, or are warned not to go outside some days because of the bad air.

How good does a cold glass of water tastes on a hot day? Yet we continue to pollute our water though dumping of sewage; through runoff from our farming fields, though pollution from our factories and dumps. That styrofoam cup or container you just threw down will come back some day and poison you or your children. And now with the added threat of global warming, which you have all heard about but probably pay little attention to, drought is becoming more prevalent. Just recently Cristo Rey Village in Cayo lost their water supply when the level in the wells dropped below the level of the pipes bringing it to the surface.

And food … the price of vegetables constantly rises as they become scarce. Fishing stocks are depleted due to gillnets, fishing out of season, and over harvesting which lead to shortages and a rise in the price of seafood. Do you realize that when I first came to belize 30 years ago, I could jump into the sea almost anywhere, and come to the surface with an arm load of conch — on one breath. You are lucky to see a conch anywhere today.

So we are losing our life sustaining environment, slowly but surely. Because of my age, I think I am relatively safe from the major impacts of an environmental collapse in Belize, but my children — you — and your children are not. So I say to you today, think about how your actions harm the environment, in everything you do, from putting trash in proper containers, to conserving water by turning off the pipe when you are not using it, to going back to school to study about solar panels or watersheds or soils. Develop a healthy respect for your environment. It is not infinite, on the contrary, it is quickly disappearing around the world and being replaced by dust, thirst and hunger.

A close second to the environment is yourself. Not how popular you are, or how good you look, but how good you feel.

A close second to the environment is yourself. Not how popular you are, or how good you look, but how good you feel. You must learn to respect your physical body, because as strong as you feel right now, trust me, it does not last. When I was your age, I never even realized my body was a thing to take care of, I rarely thought about it unless I was sick or injured. And then I repaired so quickly that I soon forgot about what I did to get sick or injured in the first place.

But as you get older, all those things you did like not eating right, drinking sugary softdrinks, smoking, not exercising, excessive alcohol consumption — all these things you might recover nicely from now. But with out even realizing it, your body begins to age, and the damage done does not repair itself. And the older you get, the harder it is to recover. Look around your home and neighborhood — high blood pressure, heart disease, HIV, obesity are everywhere. These diseases that ravage your body and are extremely difficult to recover from as you age, are preventable.

This also applies to injuries — you need to be aware when your body is in danger. By definition, an accident happens unexpectedly and unintentionally, so you won’t know when it is going to happen. Like driving a car under the influence of alcohol; or without a seatbelt, or walking down the middle of a busy street (trust me, you are not going to win in a collision with a car or truck) or riding a bike or motorcycle without a helmet — and that means buckling the helmet securely under your chin. I actually saw a young woman driving a motorcycle yesterday, one hand on the handlebars, the other holding the helmet on her head with the chin straps flapping lose in the wind.

Not long ago, I was deep in the Chiquibul forest helping rangers chop bush from a trail. One moment of inattention and the machete slipped from my hands and buried itself in my foot. A year and half later I am still without full use of my foot, and probably never will regain its full use. We all feel invincible…until we are not. So the second lesson I would like to pass on is to respect yourself, especially your health. Without your health, you can not do much of anything.

So. Respect and care for the environment so you can breath, drink and eat. And have a deep respect for your physical body so that you maintain your health into your older years. After these two, there are a whole host of things I could talk about … working hard, caring for your fellow citizens, continue your education, believe in yourself … all those saying we see every day in quotes written on photos that show up on your Facebook page. But the third thing I’m going to pick might surprise you. The environment gives you air and food and water; and your health gives you clear thinking free from pain. The third thing I’d like to pass on is to have Hope. Hope? Why Hope?

All hope is, is a belief that change can occur.

All hope is, is a belief that change can occur. You hope the weather will stop raining for the weekend bash; you hope you win Boledo; you hope she says yes when you ask her out. If you can hope for these little random things I just mentioned, why shouldn’t it scale up? Why can’t you have hope that if you believe in something, have certain standards of right and wrong, that living up to those standards can change things.

Here is an example. Say you believe that any government’s — blue, red, green, or yellow governments, any government’s main purpose is to secure its borders, then you know what is right and wrong. No border security — wrong. Secure borders — right. If things are wrong, we should have Hope that we can change them to right.

If there is one thing to hold on to as you leave this institution of higher learning, it is to believe that you can go out into the world, into Belize, into Dangriga, into your family, even into yourself and effect change. Hope ultimately starts in a belief in yourself. Because change will happen regardless of what you do; but you have the power, to affect change in the proper direction. You just have to believe it.

And how do you find the proper direction to effect change? See why Hope is so powerful? It makes you look at your life, at life around you, and ask, is this right? Let me tell you something about the history of Hope, and change to what is right.

Do you realize that slavery was an accepted cultural norm from the dawn of civilization until the 19th century? Was that right? No. It is now considered immoral and though it still exists, we would hope eventually it will die out through the struggles of very courageous people.

Do you realize in the 1800's blacks and native peoples in United States were not considered human by their Supreme Court? Is that right? Obviously not. We still see the effects of slavery today, and human trafficking is our modern day slavery, but it is changing — maybe not fast enough, but nothing ever is.

In the early 20th century, women around the world were not allowed to vote. Is that right? No, and today women have a vote in most countries, but the struggle continues for women, and we hope that our mothers and daughters and sisters will eventually be treated equal in society.

And today in Belize there are multiple groups with hope, fighting for what is fair, for what is right. The Maya want to transition into the modern world on their terms, with their customs and spiritualism in tact. Sounds fair to me. The Belize Territorial Volunteers want to keep Belize whole and our borders secure. They hope their actions will lead to that. I hope so too. And the Lesbian Gay struggles — where one’s private life hurts no one — fight for global acceptance of their right to live as they sexually are. Sounds like none of my business if they are not hurting anyone.

The forward March of human rights will continue, change will continue, but only if you graduates have hope that you can contribute to change in the right direction.

The forward March of human rights will continue, change will continue, but only if you graduates have hope that you can contribute to change in the right direction.

A major wrong you will have to right in your lifetime is corruption in government. Corruption has plagued Belize through multiple administrations, in both parties and it is a cancer that will eventually kill Belize as we know it. We all know it exists. And we seem to accept it as a fact of life. It is not. So maybe it is the system at fault, for the corrupt leaders we continue to elect and the bureaucrats in we deal with are a reflection of us. So maybe we need to change the system to accommodate the way we are, not the way the US is or what the world wants or thinks; you CAN change the system so it is right and fair.

But the system will not correct itself. You, the graduates of Ecumenical Junior College and your generation, will have to effect this change. You will have to maintain the hope that you can change it, and I promise you, you can build a better family, a better town, a better country, that believes in fairness, respect and what is right. And to do that, you will have to have the courage to look at yourself and begin with your own actions. Are they fair? Am I respectful? Is it right? See, to have Hope is to have power over change.

So I leave you with these three things that I wish some one had told me when I was at your stage in life. First and foremost, Worship Nature. Treat your environment, our watersheds, our forests and wildlife, our coral reef, like the incredible gift; No; the priceless treasure it is. Use her to grow and harvest food, but leave her in better condition then when you started so we will never run out of clean air, fresh water, wholesome food. That is the very definition of sustainability, and it is the right thing to do.

Second, treat your body like the machine it is. For believe me, just like your ride grows old and eventually turns to junk, how long your car lasts, depends on how you treat it. I don’t mean to live a chaste and unadventurous life. On the contrary, I mean exercise your body, go outside and hike or swim in that environment you are learning to cherish. After all, you can’t protect something if you do know it or love it. But to go outside you have feed your body right, you have to protect it from stupid actions like driving drunk or not wearing a seat belt or a helmet, or unprotected sex. Your body is the only thing you have that is truly yours, it is your one shot at life, treat it like that. It is the right thing to do.

And finally Hope. Have the belief and the Hope that if you work hard towards a goal, what ever it is, you can achieve it. Hope that you can live by your sense of fairness and respect for everyone, and not live by peer pressure or the dictates of society or greed. Hope that we can stop violence, stop the violence of Belizean against Belizean, stop the violence of man against woman. Stop the violence of adult against child. Hope that we can secure our borders and protect our natural wealth and rid ourselves of the culture of corruption. These, to me, are the right things to do. I hope you think so too.

Cherish our natural wealth.

Nourish and protect your body.

Believe change is possible.

Hope; Environment; and Yourself.

Take the first letter of each word — H for Hope, E for Environment and Y for yourself. H — E — Y. That spells HEY.

Hey class of 2016! Hey! Congratulations!

Thank you.