This is Water

Graduation speeches can be very hit or miss. Arguably, it’s either the most painful 15 minutes or so of the ceremony or the highlight of your senior year. Luckily, Gary Kayye?? CTS has provided my class of graduating seniors with some of what he considers the “best graduation speeches of all time.” Knowing the possibility of a tragic speaker, Professor Kayye made it a priority of his to ensure we left Carolina feeling inspired by some of the best.

All of the speeches have been great, but none have compared to David Foster Wallace’s “This is Water.” If you haven’t already heard/read it, leave my mediocre blog right now and go be inspired… truly, it’s incredible.

I think I liked it the most because it was the most authentic. He didn’t try to glorify the monotony of everyday adult life, but detailed the harsh reality of what it means to truly live “day in, day out.” The humorous description of the average corporate work day, ultimately led to this point… we all have the ability to CHOOSE how we see the world. Our reality is created by our mind, and we have the privilege and opportunity to see the world in a positive light if we choose to do so.

Allow me to give you an example: In the video, Wallace details the frustration created by rush hour traffic and how it often feels like such a “deeply personal and unfair” experience. Yet, what if the driver in front of you was recently in a horrible auto accident? Now, their therapist ordered them to “get back out there” and you so happen to be behind the terrified driver just trying to make it to the next exit.?

Can’t relate? Picture this: it’s the end of a long day and you are at the grocery store picking up a few items to attempt to put together a suitable meal. Of course, the line is incredibly long and the check out clerk resembles more of a sloth than a human. WHY, why must I always be in this situation??

Perhaps, the check out clerk is finishing a 12 hour shift, starving because her minimum wage job doesn’t cut it in this economy and she’s also just trying to make it through the day. OR, an hour before you arrived, another hangry corporate customer took his anger out on her and entirely plummeted her mood/energy for the day. Sure, both options are hypothetical but definitely not impossible. When we think of the world this way, we begin to realize that it truly is not about us… it never is. I believe we were absolutely put on this earth for a reason, to serve God and serve others… neither of those reasons have “I” in them.

In every day life, we can so easily miss opportunities to be there for the people around us and consider their needs. I’m guilty of this in more ways than one. Often, I feel like I am trying to get to my next appointment, finish a certain task, or ultimately just get through my day without anyone or anything interrupting me. In doing so, I’m sure I’ve missed moments where serving should have been my #1 priority, not myself.?

Wallace describes it as follows: “There are these two young fish swimming along and they happen to meet an older fish swimming the other way, who nods at them and says ‘Morning, boys. How’s the water?’ And the two young fish swim on for a bit, and then eventually one of them looks over at the other and goes ‘What the hell is water?’....the real value of a real education, which has almost nothing to do with knowledge, and everything to do with simple awareness; awareness of what is so real and essential, so hidden in plain sight all around us, all the time, that we have to keep reminding ourselves over and over:

‘This is water.’

‘This is water.’

It is unimaginably hard to do this, to stay conscious and alive in the adult world day in and day out. Which means yet another grand cliché turns out to be true: your education really IS the job of a lifetime.”