Fertile ground from which to grow
As the Class of 2023 matriculate from St John’s College and move out to make their mark in the world, I remind them that they remain forever members of the Johannian family. With the help and guidance of your teachers and parents, you have developed a certain value system that will equip you well for the future.
While I graduated from St John’s College in 1989, I started my education at a Bantu Education school. This system could not care less that you learn critically and develop the capacity to interpret things. It emphasised rote learning and committing things to memory, which can be regurgitated. Consequently, one of the poems I learnt and committed to memory is a poem by William Butler Yeats entitled “The Second Coming.” The first verse reads:
Turning and turning in the widening gyre,
The falcon cannot hear the falconer,
Things fall apart; The centre cannot hold,
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned.
The best lack all conviction, while the worst are full of passionate intensity.
It is worth reflecting on the final line of the first verse, “The best lack all conviction while the worst are full of passionate intensity.” At home and school, you have been raised with particular values. I hope you will continue to live those values and defend them. Respect, diversity, inclusion, empathy. These are among the most important values, and having been raised in this school and in our country, these and other values should be second nature to you and, I believe, will set you apart wherever you find yourself in the future. I challenge you to have the courage of your convictions.
A hymn I loved when I was at school contained the following words, “And what we believed in our hearts, we may show forth in our lives.” This was a reminder that affirmations of religiosity are not enough — that we must live and exemplify the faith we profess.
Love is a part of the school motto: Lux, Vita, Caritas. Love for self is essential, so long as it’s in moderation. Otherwise, we run the risk of being narcissists. But if you do not love yourselves enough, it becomes difficult in the future for anyone to love you.
Love also requires of us that we love our neighbour. Practically, this includes a belief in and a commitment to the welfare of others. This will help us to see the danger of living on an island of wealth and privilege that is surrounded by a sea of poverty. It is, in a word, Ubuntu. This teaches us to respect and appreciate the humanity and dignity of all people. We live in a world fraught with division, hatred and conflict. In such a world, love is a powerful and countervailing force.
There is a seed of greatness in each and every one of you. It is up to you to cultivate and manifest it. Along the way, you will make missteps or fail. Take the lessons, dust yourselves off and go on to realise your best selves.
Our joy as a school lies not only in the prowess exhibited by our best achievers in the academic, sports, cultural and leadership realms but equally in the pupils who may not win any prizes but who have been able to grow and materially improve their marks and other achievements during their schooling careers. This, together with your value system, can help you towards realising “the better angels of your nature.”
Be kind to yourself, to others and to the environment so that your progeny has the means to meet its own needs. You are rightly trained in body, mind and character. Your education, achievements and the values learned at home and at your school will set you apart and equip you to be a proud citizen of Africa and the world.
May you cultivate fertile fields!
This is an abridged version of Thulani Khanyile’s address to the St John’s College class of 2023 at the Upper V Speech Day