Let’s be honest graduation ceremonies are hot, boring, sweaty and unnecessarily long. After 3 or 4 years of complicated and arduous study, it feels like some sort of punishment, rather than the intended purpose of being a grandiose celebration with the aim stroke every graduates ego just enough to influence them to go forth into the world, become a cog in the machine and make lots of money. The more the better because then the government can tax you more, so that they can go on escapades into countries thousands of miles away and take their natural resources, for even more money, all under the guise of “homeland security/moral obligation”.
There is also this weird custom of giving someone else, who may or may not have graduated from your University, and is usually considerably older than you, an honorary degree. At my graduation ceremony, which consisted mainly of arts students, we were subject to a speech by someone who graduated with a 1st class in Mathematical Physics and had gone on to be really successful in life and earn a lot of money.
The smell of jealousy filled the room as we clapped him of through gritted teeth, knowing full well that no one in the room would ever earn as much money as this stand up scientist, with our artsy fartsy degrees.
Anyhoo, never fear arts graduates, listening to Tim Minchin in the following video (which for some reason includes subtitles, which makes no sense, he speaks perfect English!) will restore all that gusto and drive you possessed during freshers week. You know, that first week of University when you optimistically signed up for a stupid amount of societies that you never ever attended?
In the video, Tim Minchin is awarded an honorary doctorate by the University of Western Australia, and gives a brilliantly inspiring speech, delivered with wit, intelligence and controversial jokes. It really is a fantastic speech, made all the more funnier by the ever-present awkwardness the Chancellor/Dean of the University in the background.
This speech is essential viewing for anyone who is looking for inspiration, not just graduates.
This article was originally published on Urban Times.
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This is just beautiful.