Small actions can make a big difference, and can sometimes spark global changes.
That was the message that Prof Rob Lawson gave to more than 370 University of Otago Otago graduates in commerce and law, who attended a 4pm graduation ceremony at the Dunedin Town Hall on Saturday.
Prof Lawson, who recently retired from the Otago marketing department, paid tribute to a former departmental colleague, Dr James Henry, who had died suddenly in March, and who had "loved helping people''.
Prof Lawson shared Dr Henry's view that "it is the small things that can be really important and that are worth doing''.
He recalled that a story told by the late US anthropologist Prof Loren Eiseley, about a boy on a beach who found thousands of stranded starfish that were still alive.
He started throwing them back one by one into the sea, and was challenged by an old man who said this could not make any difference.
The boy had replied that he had, in fact, made a difference to the starfish he had just thrown into the water.
Prof Lawson said a lot of his recent Otago research had been about sustainable consumption and efficient energy use.
And he had always cycled to work, and bought carbon offsets when he flew.
Such things "do make a difference'', he said.
He noted that, in the United States, Rosa Parks had refused to give up her seat to a white person on a bus and had precipitated the Civil Rights movement.
At Otago University, Sir Alan Mark had led the fight to preserve Lakes Te Anau and Manapouri in the 1970s and "he is still at it, working away on climate change''.
No problem was too big to tackle, because "even the smallest action will make some sort of difference'', Prof Lawson said.
Otago University graduate and award-winning novelist Barbara Else told more than 240 humanities graduates attending an earlier 1pm graduation ceremony that "exciting times lie ahead'' and to "relish the adventure''.
Ms Else is the Otago University College of Education/Creative New Zealand Writer in Residence this year.
She noted that heroes in fiction were often confronted by ogres, and associated challenges also had to be faced in life.
"Deal with the ogres. They may not be as alarming as they first appear.''
She reflected on her first published novel, The Warrior Queen, which focuses on the revenge of a faithful wife on an unfaithful husband.
She had had to "wrestle with everything I've written'', including essays for the Otago English department, in her student days.
In response, she had "just kept my head down writing, being stubborn about it.''
"I love to use humour as a cloak to smuggle significant subject matter into a story.
"For a long time, I felt humour was looked down on by the literati.
"Now, to my amusement and bemusement, I seem to be regarded as one of the literati,'' she said.
