Robert McLellan Bateman

Robert Bateman has been a keen artist and naturalist from his early days. He painted wildlife and wilderness in a representational style until his teens when he began using a variety of contemporary styles, including post-impressionism and abstract expressionism. In the early 1960's, Mr. Bateman rediscovered realism and began to develop the style that would make him one of the foremost artists depicting the world of nature. In the 1970's and 1980's, his work began to receive critical acclaim and to attract an enormous following.

Beginning with his first one-man show in 1967, Mr. Bateman has had numerous sell-out exhibitions in Canada, the United States and Great Britain. His work is in many public and private collections, including several museums. He was commissioned by the Governor General of Canada to do a painting as a wedding gift - from the people of Canada - to Prince Charles. Mr. Bateman has also had many one-man museum shows throughout North America, including an exhibition at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C. that drew record-breaking crowds. Books of his art have made publishing history selling more than a million copies and his honours, awards and honorary doctorates are numerous including being appointed as an Officer of the Order of Canada.

Mr. Bateman creates art that reflects his commitments to ecology and preservation. Since the early 1960's, he has been an active member of naturalist clubs and conservation organizations. This involvement has increased in recent years and is now on a global scale. He has become a spokesperson for many environmental and preservation issues and has used his artwork and limited edition prints in fundraising efforts which have provided millions of dollars for worthy causes.

Born in Toronto, Mr. Bateman obtained a degree in geography from the University of Toronto. He has been a teacher all his life, teaching high school for 20 years including two years in Nigeria. He still gives lectures on the beauty and plight of the planet, and on the importance of connecting children with nature.

In 2007, Robert Bateman and Birgit Freybe Bateman gifted Royal Roads University with original art, giclées, photographs, sketch books and artifacts - valued at over $11 million. The university is now fundraising to build the Robert Bateman Centre that will house this legacy. The Centre will be a catalyst for dialogue, research, education, outreach and stewardship through a range of life-long learning programming. It will lead sustainable community development by bringing the best, diverse minds to the table in democratic dialogues around critical public policy issues. The Centre's programming will also explore the design and redesign of the built environment by taking into equal consideration stewardship of place and the sustainability of the natural environment.

Speech by Robert McLellan Bateman

It is such an honour to receive a doctorate from the most compatible university I could imagine.  All my life I’ve extolled the virtues of natural heritage and human heritage and lamented their loss.  Royal Roads has both in spades.  For decades I have been preaching that small is beautiful and sustainability is essential.  Once again RRU scores.

As you may know I turned 80 last 24th of May.  I hope that you know that that was Queen Victoria’s birthday.  (We were not born in the same year, however.)  You may not know that May 24th is also Bob Dylan’s birthday.  Philosophically, I find myself somewhere in between the two. 

Since I am now an octogenarian I am going to invoke the privilege of handing out advice and opinions.  If you choose to doze off, I plan to post this address at RobertBateman.ca.  I will be quoting various people from Mark Twain to the Rolling Stones as I go along.  Mark Twain said, “Growing old is a question of mind over matter.   If you don’t mind, it doesn’t matter.”  That same advice could apply to so many things in life – very Bhuddist.  Twain also said, “Some of the worst things in my life … never happened.”

That leads me to my first piece of advice.  DON’T WORRY.  I mean it.  Worrying makes no sense.  Either do something about the problem if you can, or, if you can’t do something, forget it.  I know that’s easier said than done so here is my second piece of advice:  PROCRASTINATE.  I don’t mean procrastinate about duties to be done.  Don’t be a shirker.  I mean procrastinate about worrying.  Say to yourself, “I’m OK at the moment so I will worry about the problem later.”  Some of the worst things in your life may never happen so why build up your own bad cortisol hormone and maybe raise your blood pressure and shorten your life for no point at all?  If you keep procrastinating your worry, time will likely take care of everything (as my mother always said).  (I tried this a few years ago when I had a cancer scare and it seemed to work.)  Action is good but worrying has bad side effects.  I’ve sometimes found it helpful to pretend that I’m in a movie.

Here are a couple of other tips in the worrying department.  Try the three breath meditation.  I am a hopeless meditator but I seem to be able to be mindful for three breaths.  Ten is stretching it.  If you are stressed, stop, relax your toes, relax your tongue, think about your finger tips and take three slow, conscious breaths … small investment for good results.  What about the problems of the planet?  I am well aware of the problems of the planet but I don’t wreck my days or nights obsessing about them.  If you find yourself worrying about the state of the world, go outside, take your three breaths, address a tree and quietly say thank you.  If you can’t find a tree a dandelion will do.  Gratitude is a good idea and it is very under-rated in our society.  We definitely owe gratitude to the plant kingdom.  They are on our side.  So pick your tree and express gratitude to it as a representative of the world’s flora.  Go for a walk in nature even for a few minutes every day.

(Forest therapy in Japan)

Personally I don’t lose a wink of sleep over the disasters happening to the planet.  I try to do what I can in my own way – write letters, rant, make a donation etc., and then enjoy life on this beautiful planet.  Follow E. O. Wilson’s advice; fall in love with life on earth.  Love is better than fear.  You are wasting your life if all you do is fret about such things.  And you might only have one life.

My second piece of advice is to never ever harbour resentment.  That is like mixing a cup of poison and drinking it yourself.  It will wreck the inside of your body and your head and it likely will not bother the target of your resentment at all.  I never took a course in philosophy but one of my favourite philosophers was Spinoza who lived in the 17th century Holland.  He refused to admit that he was ever being shafted.  When people told him that he was being taken advantage of, he wouldn’t listen.  He said, “The sun is in the sky and God is in the heavens and those kind of thoughts are not useful to my well-being.”  Spinoza was kindly and did not want to hurt people’s feelings.  He did not call a spade a spade unnecessarily. 

Being nice and having good manners is a good idea.  Being angry and yelling at people is a bad idea.  As a teacher for 20 years I only raised my voice once a year or never.  I don’t say this to help others.  I say this from a selfish point of view.  I may be more Machiavellian than you think.  In a given conflict situation, ask yourself, “How do I want this to turn out?”  You are much more likely to get your own way with sweetness than with grumpiness.

By the way, in case you take me for some priggish goody-goody – I don’t claim to always follow my own advice. 

Now I want to quote Oscar Wilde.  He said, “Surely Niagara Falls is the second great disappointment in every American marriage.”  I disagree with Wilde about marriage but kind of agree with him about Niagara Falls.  In my view marriage is a good idea (I’ve even had two of them).  It is great to have a life companion to share things with (I’m also big on sharing).  Hanging out with one person for decades can have issues.  So here are a couple of ideas that might smooth the way.  Limit complaining about the other to a minimum or none at all.  Don’t ever blame.  And try to find at least one complimentary thing to say to those near to you every day.

Now, turning to Niagara Falls.  It is over-rated.  From a visual point of view it is a long, grey blob.  You don’t need to go to Niagara Falls for beauty.  Take a few steps in nature and admire a clump of leaves.  Even a dead maple leaf has more visual excitement than Niagara Falls.  To quote Stephen Fry, “There is moral force to aesthetics.”  And here is a quote from the movie The Colour Purple, “I think that it pisses God off if you walk by a field of flowers the colour purple and you don’t even notice.”  Don’t piss God off.  Whether you believe in Him or not, it is not a good idea … again, gratitude is great.

You and I know that RRU is the most beautiful campus in the world.  I hope that you realize that this aesthetic moral force has infused your being in subliminal good ways that will last you for the rest of your life.  This aesthetic moral force will be (I expect) an important aspect of the Bateman Centre – the setting, the architecture and perhaps even the art.

Here is another wild, aesthetic quote this time from the aforementioned Oscar.  When he was asked, “Why is America so violent?” (evidently America used to be violent back in the 19th century).  He said, “I will tell you why America is so violent; its wallpaper is so ugly.”  I don’t know about the wallpaper but Wilde cared about aesthetics – we all should.

Moving along to my next advice … do not ever complain about work … that is unseemly and not helpful.  You brainwash yourself with the “poor me” syndrome.  You are lucky to be able to do work.  Say “How wonderful!” when facing a sink full of dishes.  To misquote Crosby, Stills and Nash, and maybe Young, “When you can’t be with the job you love, then love the job you’re with.”  Or the Rolling Stones … “You can’t always get what you want, but if you try sometime, you will find you get what you need.”  Play the ball from where it lies and do not complain about it.  Whining brings you down.

Finally, here is an opinion on the importance of memories.  John Houston, the Canadian Inuit expert and film director grew up at Cape Dorset.  He loves to go back and travel the tundra.  Many Inuit were puzzled why a white guy would leave the comforts of southern Canada and travel the wilds of the north.  So they asked him, “What are you really doing here?”  He said, “I am wandering around gathering fond memories.”  They said, “Hmmmmm … good idea.”    Gathering memories is what we all are doing in life … let’s hope most of them are fond.

By contrast, I will now quote John Gotti, the Mafia boss.  “At the end of your days, all you’ve got are memories.  Make them.” 

I hope that you will always say to RRU, “Thanks for the memories.”

I will close with one more quote from Oscar Wilde.  He was almost alone on his deathbed in a garret in Paris.  He turned his head to the wall and said his last words, “Either this wallpaper goes or I do.”  With that, he went.  And now, in a different way, I will also go.

Thank you.