"Help others" life's greatest lesson

Canadian actor and humanitarian Tom Jackson reminded Trent's graduating class to always find time to help others as they leave behind university life and enter the working world.

Jackson, one of two persons to receive honorary Doctor of Laws degrees from Trent, said his own success has come about largely because people were willing to help him when he was at a crossroads. "There were people who had hands reaching down when I was reaching up."

Graduating students had probably experienced the same thing during their university years, with support coming from family and friends, he said. "I suggest to you to keep the ball rolling in this wonderful world of education, giving and learning, and allowing the student to become the teacher ... that you don't forget that you once had a hand like that."

Jackson said he was both honored and humbled to receive his honorary degree. Standing 6'7", he said, people are often surprised at his height when they meet him for the first time. "But right now you could probably add 20 feet to my height, that's how I feel."

Born on the One Arrow reserve in Saskatchewan, Jackson was raised in Winnipeg, where he lived for a number of years on the street. "When I was a young man I once sat on the lawn outside of a university. I don't exactly remember what I was doing but I remember what I was thinking. I remember thinking 'God it must be wonderful to be inside those walls' and it's true. I never thought that that was possible for me. I bow to you. I bow to where you're going to go. And most of all, I love you."

English professor Stephen Brown said Jackson is much celebrated, with countless awards and membership in the Order of Canada, but added: "However distinguished Mr. Jackson's talents as a musician, an actor, and a director his true gift is his empathy. He is tolerant, gentle and receptive and he understands that to be a humanitarian one must be willing to listen to everyone's stories."

Jackson, he said, has described his bewilderment as a boy when his mother would weep during television newscasts or insist upon stopping to help the forgotten people she came across in the streets. "But as a man Tom Jackson has taken up his mother's concern for suffering humanity. He has never forgotten his own life on the streets of Winnipeg. He has not allowed success to dull his memories of what it feels like to be among a city's castoffs."

Tom Jackson has a great soul, said Brown. He knows that empathy diminishes the distances between people, that we must all depend in our lives upon the kindness of strangers.

Back to the Trent Report main page