It was a great pleasure to speak at a graduation ceremony in Auckland on Friday.
More of an honour was to share the stage with the other speakers such as Dr Dave Roberts, director of Faculty of business and law of University of Southern Queensland and Dr John Hinchcliff, former president of AUT.
I’ve known Dr Hinchcliff for many years. His speech was witty and relevant. I wished the Cabinet would take some notes. I thought I would share some of my highlights with you below:
We can learn an interesting emphasis from the derivation of the words ‘economy’ and ‘ecology’. In Greek ‘eco’ means ‘home’ (from oikos). And ‘nomy’ (from ‘nomos’) used in ‘economy’ means ‘care of’ or ‘management of’.
The word ‘logos’ in ‘ecology means ‘wisdom’. Before we know how to care for the home we must know what it means and what it represents. So ‘wisdom’ takes priority. Thus, ecology should take precedence over economics just as wisdom should take precedence over knowledge.
Our existence is a wonderful phenomenon. But the fragility of our home has been threatened by our lack of care, and by our poor and unthinking management. Nature urgently needs our wise support, just as millions of poverty stricken people need our care, and our democratic governance needs our active engagement.
