I wrote a speech and then a week before I was due to deliver it they said, you’ve got cancer.They said if you don’t get any treatment you’ll be dead in three weeks.And they told me that
I wouldn’t be able to come and deliver this speech here tonight.
But luckily, that speech isn’t about what is to come - it’s about what an amazing year it has
been. And you didn’t really expect me to write a whole new one from my hospital bed did
you? It started like this:
"If I have seen further, it is by standing on the shoulders of giants."
Bernard of Chartres compared us to dwarfs perched on the shoulders of giants. He pointed
out that we see more and further than our predecessors, not because we have keener vision,
nor greater height, but because we are lifted up and borne aloft on their gigantic stature and
knowledge. Thank you Christchurch Boys’ High School for the height you offer.
Tena koutou katoa. Good evening everyone, I am Jakob Ross Bailey - Senior Monitor of 2015.
To all the fine young men who have gone before me, and to the fine young men sitting before
me, thank you for supporting me as your Senior Monitor this year. Yes, at times I have
wondered whether I deserved this job. At times I have doubted I could get it done to the
standard I thought it should be done to. But despite my fear, I have never stopped striving to
be a leader who did not let you down. And consequently, I am grateful for what you have
given to me in return. I want to share with you all some words which I hold particularly close
to heart, words which meant a lot more to me this year than they ever could have before. “It
is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or
where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is
actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly;
who errs and comes short again and again; because there is not effort without error and
shortcomings; but who does actually strive to do the deed; who knows the great enthusiasm,
the great devotion, who spends himself in a worthy cause, who at the best knows in the end
the triumph of high achievement and who at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring
greatly. So that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither
victory nor defeat.”
This job would not have been possible alone, and consequently I must thank a massive team.
Firstly, to my deputies, Sam and Jesse. You have been solid and inspirational, strong where I
was weak, and an amazing source of support. I always felt you had my back, and that made
every day so much better. To the Monitors of 2015, I owe all of you so much. I treasure the
connection I have had with each and every one of you. Thank you for accepting me into a
group which I could have so easily not been accepted into, for giving me a chance, for the
brotherhood that we have had. Maybe the best thing that this role has given me is a
connection with you all I wouldn't have had otherwise, and it means more to me than you
will ever know. As I said on Monitors Camp, you are all exceptional people of outstanding
calibre, each and every one of you will go far, and I have learnt things from all of you.
I must acknowledge the sturdy leadership and support I have received from Mr Hill and the
solid guidance received from Mr Fraser, Mr Williams and Mr Dunnett through this year. It has
been at the core of how I have conducted myself this year, and at times I would have been
very lost without your guidance. You have all taught me much, and I will carry it through life
with me. Thank you for the opportunity you gave me, I hope I have done you proud.
I want to acknowledge the support I have received from, and sincerely thank the Old Boys. In
particular I thank you Terry Donaldson and Jim Blair for being men of fine character who
encouraged me to walk beside you, and I have been honoured to do so. The Old Boys helped
me to grasp what 130 years of history means in action. What it means to value tradition, to
appreciate our rich history and to comprehend the mark the Old Boys have made on the
worlds of the military, the arts and culture, commerce, law, community service and sport. I
have been privileged to be supported by these wise men who spoke softly about their
accomplishments, and gently of how much we have to learn and to offer - and about the
responsibility that comes with that privilege. And these are the words I wrote before they sat
beside my hospital bed. Thank you.
Sadly, it has been both a short and long few years but here we are now, ready to move on
men. We’ve worked hard to get to this point but haven’t done it by ourselves. As guys we
become the type of men we are, not overnight, but as a result of our decisions, the choices
we make, and those who surround and support us. And it is those people we need to thank.
To our teachers, thank you for sharing your talent and knowledge, and the occasional movie.
What you did for us often went beyond the call of duty. You took the time to explain
assignments, repeatedly because we weren't paying attention. You allowed us to come to you
for extra help when you could have chosen not to. You put in effort to make lessons more
interesting so we wouldn't just tune out. You demanded excellence from us whether or not
we wanted to give it. And even to a bunch of teenage boys, it didn’t go unnoticed.
To our parents, thank you for supporting us in more ways than it's easy to reconcile. Not just
this year passed, but for the last 13 years of school. Every day you dragged us out of bed,
made sure we were semi-fed and clothed for school, herded us out the door. You helped us
with homework, paid our class fees. You came to our various events, attended our sports
matches and worked with the school as required. You commiserated over our daily dramas
and were there for us, but you also gave us enough space to become the men we are today.
To those sport coaches who provided us with strong counsel and guidance, thank you for
making school about more than just classwork. Through our sports, we’ve learned how to
power on through adversity and give it our best effort, win or lose. We learned the importance
of discipline and good sportsmanship, and how to work closely with others to achieve a
common goal - and had a lot of fun doing it.
As you heard earlier, my middle name is Ross. I was given it not long before I was born because
my 'great' uncle, Ross, drowned in Sri Lanka. Mr Ross Bailey was a Christchurch based kidney
transplant surgeon working for the Asian Commission for the Global Advancement of
Nephrology. He was known for making a serious difference to an extraordinary number of
people's lives back when organ transplants were an amazing feat, and all humility aside, was
the best in the world at it - a true pioneer, the first person to perform a kidney transplant in
New Zealand. He was also an Old Boy of Christchurch Boys’ High. He came from a working
class background, the only one of his siblings to go to university and he went on to save
numerous lives because, well, he could. Because he sought higher things. His funeral saw the
Cathedral in the Square bursting at the seams with people he had helped. He had done so
much in his short years giving life to the dying. He dared to make a difference. A graduate of
CBHS, from a working class background putting Altiora Peto into action.
Now we can't all save lives by transplanting organs. But we can make a difference in our own
way.
Christchurch Boys’ High supports academic, cultural and sporting success, and as a school we
are exceptional in each and every one of those fields. But we can’t all be the best scholar
achieving straight excellences or the best sportsman in the 1st XV, believe me. While we can’t
be the best at everything or even at times, even anything, what we can choose is to have
moral strength. Moral strength is another of the Boy’s High values. I wrote about this before
I knew I had cancer. Now I have a whole new spin on it.
Moral strength is about making a conscious decision to be a person who doesn’t give up, when
it would be easy to. To be lesser because the journey is less arduous. Jim Rohn said ‘Let others
lead small lives, but not you. Let others argue over small things, but not you. Let others cry
over small hurts, but not you. Let others leave their future in someone else's hands, but not
you. Of course doing this will mean at some point we may have to face our fear of falling
short. Fear of looking like a fool. Fear of not being enough. Being Senior Monitor meant facing
these fears, most often daily’.
But none of us get out of life alive so be gallant, be great, be gracious, be grateful for the
opportunities you have. The opportunity to learn from the men who have walked before you
and those that walk beside you.
CBHS, I have been absent for 3 weeks – could you please stop sending my mother texts asking
if she knows where I am every morning. That aside, I have missed you all. For the last 5 years
I have been proud to be a student who attended Christchurch Boys’ High School. And from
today onwards for the rest of my life, I will be a proud Old Boy, giving back to those before
me, as they have given to me.
My challenge to each of you, and to myself, is to continue to grow, to develop for the better.The future is truly in our hands. Forget about having long-term dreams. Let’s be passionately
dedicated to the pursuit of short-term goals. Micro-ambitious. Work with pride on what is in
front of us. We don’t know where we might end up. Or when it might end up.
Some of us will not cross paths again. Some of us will likely be seen on TV. Others in print.
Some of us will also probably end up in prison. I have thoroughly enjoyed growing up with
you all. It has been an honour and delight to share these years with you. I know that as I look
out at all of you, I will measure my time here in the friendships I've enjoyed in these last years.
Some were pretty casual and others were much closer but I'll remember each one fondly, as
I'm sure you all will too. And when many of our high school memories begin to fade, that's
ultimately how we may measure the time we spent here, not in the classes, or the lunchtimes,
or the exam results or years, but in the friendships that we made and the times we shared
together.
And so here we stand. Our rule is over and it's up to the next class to step into our shoes and
take over. I hope that those of you who follow will carry on a proud legacy. May the lads that
follow benefit from the school’s work to replicate the hall and the community spirit that
undeniably comes from sitting together, as one, strength and character of this mighty
institution combined.
I don't know where it goes from here for any of us - for you, for anyone, and as sure as hell
not for me. But I wish you the very best in your journey, and thank you for all being part of
mine. Wherever we go and whatever we do, may we always be friends when we meet again.
Altiora Peto (I SEEK HIGHER THINGS) lads
Make me a deal and make it straight
All signed and sealed, I'll take it
To Robert E. Lee I'll show it
I hope and pray he don't blow it 'cause
We've been around a long time just try try try tryin' to
Make the big time
Take me on a roller coaster
Take me for an airplane ride
Take me for a six days wonder but don't you
Don't you throw my pride aside besides
What's real and make believe
Baby Jane's in Acapulco We are flyin' down to Rio
Throw me a line I'm sinking fast
Clutching at straws can't make it
Havana sound we're trying hard edge the hipster jiving
Last picture shows down the drive-in
You're so sheer you're so chic
Teenage rebel of the week
Flavours of the mountain steamline
Midnight blue casino floors
Dance the cha-cha through till sunrise
Open up exclusive doors oh wow!
Just like flamingos look the same
So me and you, just we two got to search for something new
Far beyond the pale horizon
Some place near the desert strand
Where my Studebaker takes me
That's where I'll make my stand but wait
Can't you see that Holzer mane?
What's her name Virginia Plain
Immaginiamo di uscire di casa e
incamminarci per la strada. Se incontriamo una persona, può darsi che le
rivolgiamo un saluto. Altrimenti è probabile che ci limitiamo a guardarla negli
occhi, oppure nemmeno quello, e proseguiamo. Immaginiamo adesso di trovarci in
un ascensore su cui sale, insieme con noi, un’altra persona. Molto
probabilmente non la guarderemo negli occhi, e con altrettanta probabilità ci limiteremo,
nel rivolgerle la parola, ad un semplice saluto imbarazzato.
Immaginiamo di incamminarci,
invece che su di una strada, su un sentiero di un parco o in un bosco. Se
incontriamo una persona nel nostro cammino, quale sarà in questo caso il nostro
atteggiamento? Quasi sicuramente le rivolgeremo il saluto, e così farà l’altra
persona. È possibile anche che ci si soffermi, che si faccia un breve dialogo,
o che il breve dialogo si evolva in una conversazione, magari in un’amicizia.
La gente ama i boschi. La gente
ama gli alberi. In tutta Europa i boschi sono tra i luoghi preferiti e più popolari
per passare il proprio tempo libero, per svolgere attività ricreative, sportive
e turistiche all’aria aperta, per rilassarsi. Gli alberi, i boschi sono energia
e maestosità, simbolo di vita e catalizzatori di emozioni e di comunicazioni.
In parallelo, gli spazi verdi in
città, dal piccolo giardino in fondo alla strada alla foresta nei margini
urbani, sono ambiti in cui tante persone esprimono interessi personali o di gruppo,
a volte condivisi, altre volte conflittuali. I boschi e gli spazi verdi urbani
sono al centro della vita delle persone e riflettono la loro quotidianità e il
loro immaginario, l’uso che ne fanno (incontrarsi, camminare, giocare,
rilassarsi) o la negazione dell’uso che ne vorrebbero fare.
Gli alberi e i boschi alla porta
di casa forniscono una incredibile quantità e una elevatissima qualità di beni
e servizi per la comunità. Per questo, ora più che mai, i boschi e gli spazi
verdi urbani sono boschi di tutti: quegli alberi e quei boschi alla porta di
casa che non sono un semplice abbellimento ma rappresentano un elemento vitale
della quotidianità degli ambienti urbani. In Europa, i boschi urbani sono una
realtà fondamentale per mantenere gli abitanti delle città in contatto con la
natura e con i processi naturali. Questi boschi possono offrire piacevoli
ambienti per il riposo, il relax e la ricreazione. Sappiamo che la
frequentazione giornaliera di boschi ed altri spazi verdi può migliorare la
salute mentale e fisica delle persone, acuire le capacità cognitive, essere un
prezioso sostegno nella prevenzione e nella cura di malattie non trasmissibili.
Le aree verdi contribuiscono a migliorare il clima urbano, a ridurre
l’inquinamento atmosferico e proteggere la città da eventi naturali estremi
come a garantire la buona qualità e un sicuro approvvigionamento di risorse di
acqua potabile.
Fabio Salbitano
docente di Ecologia del paesaggio
e di Selvicoltura urbana, Università degli Studi di Firenze
