Final Statement to Students, April 2014

The study of law’s expression in the environment and in spatial arrangements is the province of a new geography, sometimes serving specific and instrumental ends and sometimes criticizing the place of law in society. Geographic study adds dimensions to the social scientific appreciation of law. Insinuating place and space into law forces us to understand the law not only as socially constructed but also spatially and environmentally situated.

The course has but touched on the many possibilities of this growing field of study. It has also touched on many topics and many situations which call for concern and care.

At the start I spoke of education and that the course would be what you made of it. That is what education ultimately is – opening yourselves to the intellectual possibilities around you. For those who encountered this course with interest and enthusiasm and a will to learn I thank you and applaud you.

We have had various discussions. Discussion and debate are important learning tools. Informed discussion is critical to genuine learning. So I encourage you to continue in such research and to be both respectful and prepared when engaging in intellectual debate.

We have discussed some complex and troubling issues. Too often we view others’ situations without a sense of the worthiness of those people or that their problems are someone else’s problems (Are there no shelters…). It is easy to slip into a jaundiced and selfish view of the world – after all our leaders often embody such a view. The times, as always, call for compassion which is a mix of sympathy and empathy and a will to help. The dictionary defines it as a feeling of deep sympathy and sorrow for another who is stricken by misfortune, accompanied by a strong desire to alleviate the suffering.

Karen Armstrong has produced a wonderful book Twelve Steps to a Compassionate Life. She says the following about compassion “Compassion impels us to work tirelessly to alleviate the suffering of our fellow creatures, to dethrone ourselves from the centre of our world and put another there, and to honour the inviolable sanctity of every single human being, treating everybody, without exception, with absolute justice, equity and respect.”

Justice is the other thing that calls out from an understanding of suffering and the human situation. Justice means many things but almost always reflects a longing for fairness which beats strongly in the human heart. Law is not always about justice as we have seen but it can be – for me it has been a source of redemption and a place to struggle for the just resolution of people’s problems.

I hope as you move forward in your studies, your careers and your lives that you will be mindful of the need for compassion and justice. I wish you all the best in your studies and in the years to come.