This is an amazing commencement speech by David Foster Wallace called "This is Water." It starts talking about the how mundane life is, which reminds me of what Chris McCandless, who seemed to be worried about falling into. The difference being, Wallace is telling the graduating students that you can take the mundane life and be aware of what reality really is. Take the mundane moments and make them yours, that it is your freedom. I am not saying that McCandless is wrong, I think he took his freedom to fulfill his passion. Wallace goes on to say something that fits with McCandless story, "The capitol "t"- Truth is about life before death." When Jon Krakauer wrote Into the Wild, he wrote mainly about McCandless' life. Hardly focusing on how he died, because they wanted to focus on what made up his life.
Another great quote from Wallace's speech is that he says, "It is about the real value of a real education, which has (almost) nothing to do with knowledge, and everything to do with simple awareness." This quote in particular, is where I feel McCandless and Wallace were on the same page. McCandless knew there is a difference between knowledge and awareness.
We see this when he was working in the fast food restaurant, he worked at a average pace, he seemed to enjoyed his mundane moments. Earlier when I was saying McCandless seemed to be worried about falling into the traditional mundane lifestyles, I think is wrong. Sure, when I first heard about McCandless' death that is what I thought. I think it was part of it, but that is why Krakauer and Sean Penn were so fascinated in learning about McCandless' life. McCandless has more under the surface and was very aware of everything, despite what the critics want to believe.
The other similarity between McCandless and Wallace is small, but is in their uniqueness. Wallace points out that he is not giving the traditional commencement speech, they both shy away from the usual ways of doing things. Which is the reason why I admire McCandless and am so inspired by Wallace's speech. To go even further, it reminds me of Sara from The Bread Givers. When we were writing on the board about what a hero is, I think McCandless fits into that category. Often critics say that he was selfish, unprepared, or suicidal. I do not think he was any of those things. McCandless, like Sara, had his reason for not contacting his family. He had been preparing for his Alaska trip for a few years, it is not like he randomly woke up one morning, and felt he was ready for the harshness of Alaska. McCandless knew he could die doing what he was doing, yet he still wanted to go through with it. We should not hold anything against him, some dreams are risky. That does not mean we should avoid our dreams. He was living his dream, and that is more than many people can say.
David Foster Wallace- "This is water."
That speech is strange in that it flipped and flopped from one idea to the next, but I loved it. Initially, it reminded me very much of what the film Fight Club was all about and by extension what Into the Wild's Chris McCandless represented. About how most adults fall into a mundane and routine lifestyle with no hope of breaking out. It's a fear that I've been totally conscious of ever since leaving high school (not ironically after the first time I saw Fight Club) and that's why I've decided to do something a bit more outrageous and strange with my college degree in hopes that I can avoid that trap. This is sort of why I greatly envied Chris, but I'm saving most of that for my own post!
ReplyDeleteBut then the video quickly shifts gears and brings up really cool and out of the world concepts I learned in my Eastern Religions class. How the world does not revolve around our happiness and well-being, but in the compassion we show to others. True character is how we treat those who can do nothing for us. It sounds so freaking cheesy, but it's surprising how many adults aren't well-adjusted and that sort of mentality helps in staying level headed. It's no surprise that class has remained one of my favorites.