I imagine that most of you are familiar with David Foster Wallace's speech at the 2005 Kenyon College graduation.
For some reason, this simple speech has been returning to my thoughts a lot lately. Re-reading it today for the first time in months, it seems way more relevant and also obvious than it did when I first read it as a junior at Notre Dame. Specifically, that sense of the absolute mundane-ness of many an adult day. Or at least of many mundane moments. And having to buy groceries or cleaning supplies, procure coins and do laundry, or even just deal with catching my bus on time for the nth morning in a row. Most of all, living in a big city, it's that having to deal with so many people in such a peripheral way. That one chubby guy behind the register at my Dominick's, who I angle for in the line because I know that he'll smile back at me and wish me a nice day. I sincerely hope that his is nice as well, but I wonder. The servers at my favorite cafe, whose quirky moustaches brighten my day when I lug work that I had to take home there. What are their lives like as full-time coffee shop servers, even if it is a damn good coffee shop? Then there's the late nights getting boring, routine work done. And the people who are up just as late, studying in or keeping open the 24-hour Starbucks I frequent at those times. The eating lunch at my desk because there is so much to do, and I don't have time to stop for much of a break. The girl at the cafe in my building who knows some of my orders by now because of those days when lunch or breakfast means grabbing something hasty there. The odd learning-to-navigate "real dates" with real, grown-up men - some of them as much as 10 years my senior. The wondering where it will lead them, and me, and if either of us will even remember the other as more than a funny story come 2 or 10 years. The scrambling to read books or to pray on the bus, on the train - the failing at times. The not sleeping in or forgetting to work out. Oh, grown-up life.
I know some of what I've said here, and what DFW described, may be part of your day as well. So I'd love to hear - what are some of your "this is water" moments?
-LC
For some reason, this simple speech has been returning to my thoughts a lot lately. Re-reading it today for the first time in months, it seems way more relevant and also obvious than it did when I first read it as a junior at Notre Dame. Specifically, that sense of the absolute mundane-ness of many an adult day. Or at least of many mundane moments. And having to buy groceries or cleaning supplies, procure coins and do laundry, or even just deal with catching my bus on time for the nth morning in a row. Most of all, living in a big city, it's that having to deal with so many people in such a peripheral way. That one chubby guy behind the register at my Dominick's, who I angle for in the line because I know that he'll smile back at me and wish me a nice day. I sincerely hope that his is nice as well, but I wonder. The servers at my favorite cafe, whose quirky moustaches brighten my day when I lug work that I had to take home there. What are their lives like as full-time coffee shop servers, even if it is a damn good coffee shop? Then there's the late nights getting boring, routine work done. And the people who are up just as late, studying in or keeping open the 24-hour Starbucks I frequent at those times. The eating lunch at my desk because there is so much to do, and I don't have time to stop for much of a break. The girl at the cafe in my building who knows some of my orders by now because of those days when lunch or breakfast means grabbing something hasty there. The odd learning-to-navigate "real dates" with real, grown-up men - some of them as much as 10 years my senior. The wondering where it will lead them, and me, and if either of us will even remember the other as more than a funny story come 2 or 10 years. The scrambling to read books or to pray on the bus, on the train - the failing at times. The not sleeping in or forgetting to work out. Oh, grown-up life.
I know some of what I've said here, and what DFW described, may be part of your day as well. So I'd love to hear - what are some of your "this is water" moments?
-LC
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