I had never heard of David Foster Wallace until a week a ago. That's sad. Maybe you've heard of him or read one of his many essays or books. Listening to this commencement speech, I realized that there are so many amazing individuals out there whose work I've never had the pleasure to read about or hear. It saddens and disgusts me that the likes of Justin Bieber and Kim Kardashian are covered incessantly by the media, while those with so much to offer this world are known to so few in comparison.
In 2008, at the age of 46, Wallace committed suicide, presumably as a result of depression. I now realize the extent of this tragic loss. I encourage you to set aside 22 minutes to listen to his words. I think you will be happy you did. I will not attempt to give my own summary as Wallace's speech should stand alone. If you are well removed from college, I wonder if you will share my reaction to the moments that the college students find amusing. As they were laughing, I was nodding my head in agreement with Wallace. It's clear to me that the college students couldn't fully comprehend his message as I would have expected given the topic. Today, I imagine they do.
To me, the commencement address beautifully touches on a theme of Paradise in Front of Me. I hope you will take 22 minutes out of your day and spend some time with Wallace. The last three minutes are worth the investment alone in my humble opinion. I've included a few of my favorite quotes below. Thanks for stopping by and have a great Friday!
"The really important kind of freedom involves attention and awareness and discipline, and being able to truly care about other people and to sacrifice for them over and over in a myriad little petty unsexy ways every day."
"It isn't really about the capacity to think, but rather about the choice of what to think about."
"We also never end up talking about where these individual beliefs and templates come from, meaning where they come from inside the two guys, as if a person's most basic orientation towards the world and the meaning of his experience were somehow just hard-wired like height or shoe size."
". . . to be just a little less arrogant, to have just a little critical awareness about myself and my certainties."
"Learning how to think really means learning how to exercise some control over how and what you think."
"The point is that petty, frustrating crap like this is exactly where the work of choosing is gonna come in."
"And it's going to seem like, for all the world, that everyone else is just in my way."
". . . everyone in this checkout line is as bored and frustrated as I am and probably have much harder more tedious or painful lives than I do."
"The only thing that is capital-T True is that you get to decide how you're gonna try to see it."
To me, the commencement address beautifully touches on a theme of Paradise in Front of Me. I hope you will take 22 minutes out of your day and spend some time with Wallace. The last three minutes are worth the investment alone in my humble opinion. I've included a few of my favorite quotes below. Thanks for stopping by and have a great Friday!
"The really important kind of freedom involves attention and awareness and discipline, and being able to truly care about other people and to sacrifice for them over and over in a myriad little petty unsexy ways every day."
"It isn't really about the capacity to think, but rather about the choice of what to think about."
"We also never end up talking about where these individual beliefs and templates come from, meaning where they come from inside the two guys, as if a person's most basic orientation towards the world and the meaning of his experience were somehow just hard-wired like height or shoe size."
". . . to be just a little less arrogant, to have just a little critical awareness about myself and my certainties."
"Learning how to think really means learning how to exercise some control over how and what you think."
"The point is that petty, frustrating crap like this is exactly where the work of choosing is gonna come in."
"And it's going to seem like, for all the world, that everyone else is just in my way."
". . . everyone in this checkout line is as bored and frustrated as I am and probably have much harder more tedious or painful lives than I do."
"The only thing that is capital-T True is that you get to decide how you're gonna try to see it."
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