孔子说：父母在，不远游

Full excerpt of my speech for the WKWSCI’s Class of 2009 graduation ceremony

Now, get on with life - Picture by Ng Chrong Meng (2009)

Mr Pro-Chancellor, distinguished guests, professors, fellow graduates, family members, loved ones, ladies and gentlemen. A very good afternoon to you all.

My name is Kang Li and it is a privilege for me to represent my classmates today.

Before I begin, I promise not to mention anything related to 179, ACRC or FYP. I will not attempt to quote anyone famous. And I will not end my speech with the Vitamin C Song.

All I have today is a list of grievances to make.

First of all, I am a little skeptical about the quality control of our students. To be honest, I think we may have one of the easiest degrees in the whole of NTU. We certainly don’t seem to study much.

How else can you explain the fact that among us here today sits a Miss Singapore-World, various TV artistes, award-winning filmmakers and journalists, student activists who are actually active and a bunch of spirited football players who last year represented our school in an unprecedented victory against all time champion NIE? A remarkable feat when you consider the number of guys we have in this faculty.

And if the students are not spending enough time in school, then people like Heng Ghee and Vincent are spending too much time in school. It is amazing how the school manages to hire technicians who can survive on one-hour lunch breaks and who don’t disappear immediately after five. When they do their job so well, it is impossible for students to put the blame on logistics when our projects go haywire.

Vincent, can you not be so responsible?

And to our professors, please don’t mess with our minds anymore. On the one hand, you are great teachers and we really want to revere you and worship you from afar. But how can you expect us to take you seriously, when you also treat us like good friends?

Friends who share the latest gossips over monthly drinking sessions cleverly disguised as alumni nights. Friends who post photos of their new-born babies over the school’s official website. Even when it comes to fighting for a parking lot, we do it like friends, doesn’t whether you are the holder of a PhD, Master’s or Bachelor’s degree.

There is one exception though, Dr Detenber, who has his own little reserved lot. But I guess that is just a small compensation for the new heights that he, as our new chair, will bring the school to.

Next I need to complain about our parents. What kind of parents allow their children to end up in a communications school, studying for a degree that is regarded among one of the lowest paying? Why hadn’t they push us towards accountancy, or engineering, or even law?

I want to share with you a story about my father.

Since a few months back, I started noticing strange letters on my dining table at home. The strategically placed letters turned out to be recruitment ads from the civil service: Ministry of Defence, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of What Not etc etc.. As it was, my parents still wished that their son would consider a job with more stability, compared to being a freelance photojournalist. The shaky financial situation must have piqued their anxiety even more.

So imagine my surprise one day when I walked past the same table and find not glossy recruitment advertisements, but something even more beautiful. My own photographs. My father had taken the effort to print out every single photo that recently won me an award at a Paris photography competition. All 10 of them.

And that is why I love my parents, because despite all their concerns about the path that I have chosen and the little antics they do to persuade me otherwise, they have never once laid down any ultimatum to stop me from doing what I love. Sometimes, it is not only what they do that shows their love, but also what they don’t.

I am sure that each one of you here today have your own special ones to thank, even though you, like me, may not admit it or say it enough.

So let me take the lead for once, to invite the graduating class to stand and join me in giving a round of applause to these special people.

Thank you and please be seated.

I am sorry I digress from complaining, but I am not done yet. I have one last grievance to make, and that is, with you, my classmates.

Do you have any idea how noisy you are in school? It seems like everyone has an opinion. Some, like Scott, have five. (Don’t laugh, Eugene Neubronner, you have six).

But you know what, if there is anything that a communications school student should do better than anyone else, it is to make noise.

There are many ways to do it. Some do it best when they make a film. Some do it best through campaigns. Others do it on facebook. I do it through pictures. Rong Jun and Shaun Khiu cut an album. You can even do it through research, just ask Gabriel how. So pick your preferred method. Do it any way you want. Doesn’t matter how you do it.

What matters is we all continue to make ourselves heard.

Thank you.

Videocast: http://gallery.ntu.edu.sg/videos/v/convocation/2009/c03/Ceremony+3-7FLV.flv.html