https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8CrOL-ydFMI
Listen to Wallace’s speech and read the transcript again. Please articulate what you believe is the main point that Wallace tries to convey to the graduates. In your answer, you may, of course, write about more than one of the ideas that Wallace uses to help him make his point. Do you agree or disagree with what Wallace says? Be sure to use examples that are not taken from the speech to support your agreement or disagreement.
After reading “This is Water,” it completely changed how I viewed life and the decisions I make. The situations mentioned throughout the speech made me realize that more often than not, that I am the person who is always in a hurry to get literally nowhere. This is not a speech that typically would be said at any graduation, but Wallace wanted to depict how the adult life practically works. We need to all start putting others before ourself because they might be encountering a much more challenging situation than we are. Also, every decision we make will have either a positive or negative effect on what happens in the future.
ReplyDeleteDavid Foster Wallace began his speech by saying, “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?’” Wallace chose to open his speech this way simply because he wanted to point out how oblivious we can be. It is so easy to look past the items that have the most influence on your lives — such as the young fish being unaware that they live in water. David later continues to tell a story of what an exhausting and busy day you are faced with. Such as after a long day at work, all you want to do is go home and eat a nice home cooked meal, but then you realize you are out of food so you have to go to a grocery store after work which takes even more time out of your busy and stressful day. The story continues for a bit until one finally returns home. The moral of the story is that we should not always be in a rush and take our anger out on other people because they might have a worse situation than you do. In the moment, it may seem as if no one has it worse than you, but I can guarantee that someone can be struggling more than you. Eventually, I came to the realization that the title “This is Water” can be translated to “This is Education.” We are clueless towards the type of education we can actually receive and the importance of it, just like the fish do not notice the importance of water since it’s just a part of their lives. This speech is also about how we view education. Overall, we all misunderstand the purpose of education. We are supposed to learn from our mistakes and not get hung up over any faultier we may face. Wallace then continues to mention that everyone worships. I completely agree with this statement because despite that someone might not worship a godly figure, they may worship something such a money — which can lead to many problems in the future. Everything that David Foster Wallace mentions in his speech, “This is Water” I completely agree with. He truly changed my mindset towards everything that I do, and he taught me to stop stressing over stupid little things that really will not make a difference in the future.
I love your translation. It is so true! As our previous blogs have stated, we take education for granted and get bored without enjoying it. Great job!
Delete“This is Water” is an incredibly powerful commencement speech given by David Foster Wallace. I believe that Wallace was trying to convey the hardships and pain in adult life. This is most evidently seen in his grocery store story. The point of Wallace’s speech is teaching the graduates how to get through those hard times.
ReplyDeleteWallace opens the speech by telling a story of two young fish swimming. As they are going along, a much older fish comes by and says, “Morning boys, how’s the water?” As the fish swim on for a bit, the on turns to the other and says, “What the hell is water?” Wallace tells this story to open the concept of how the most important realities are the ones that are the hardest to talk about. By this, Wallace means that most commencement speeches won’t talk about struggle and hardship, they would just say, “You can do anything! Follow your dreams!” However, these commence Kent speeches would be leaving out one key factor. Life is hard. In fact, sometimes life just sucks. Wallace’s most important point in his speech is when he is talking about suicides. He states that, “most of these suicides are dead long before they pull the trigger.” By this, Wallace means that it is very easy to just be a zombie. To wake up, go to work, eat, come home, sleep, and repeat. It comes to a point where all of this is done without any real feeling. I’m sure Wallace understands this, as he is someone who suffers from depression. In fact, Wallace killed him self a few years after giving this speech. While some may say that this ratified everything he said, I believe that it rather confirms everything. Wallace is trying to save the lives of these students, that was the point of the speech. In his death, Wallace shows an example of someone who couldn’t escape his own hell. Wallace’s death adds a sense of urgency to his words. It as if he got up from his grave and said, “This is what will happen if can’t escape the stress, hardship, and depression that comes with adulthood.” I agree with what Wallace says in his speech. He is very right in saying that adult life sucks sometimes. In fact, I’m not even an adult yet, and sometimes I find myself in a stressed out, zombie like mood. As Wallace says, sometimes we just need to remind ourselves, “This is water”
I agree that Wallace’s speech was a nice change from the traditional “go get ‘em” speech performed at graduations. The only issue I really noticed was your autocorrected error “commence Kent.” Great job otherwise!
DeleteI really liked how you talked about the hardships of the adult life, I definitely agree with what both you and Wallace had to say.
DeleteThe hardships of life are definitely one of the main points. I also really like how you included the end of his life as a story that could not be saved.
DeleteIn David Foster Wallace’s “This Is Water,” Wallace addresses a group of soon-to-be college graduates, a group that is about to enter the “real-world.” Now, although commencement speakers are often more likely to speak in an optimistic, inspiring tone, Wallace is quite different. Instead of speaking of hard work and perseverance and how so many great opportunities lie ahead, Wallace speaks about the “real-world,” and how these graduates really have the ability to shape how the world is seen (as long as they can detach from their “default settings” and realize that life is not always about self). And so, in this way, Wallace’s primary point seems to be that the only way to achieve success as an individual is to detach oneself from the idea that he or she is the center of the universe; if this is achieved, a new freedom will be attained, one that is greater than any amount of money or other material good can bring about.
ReplyDelete“The really important kind of freedom involves attention, and awareness, and discipline, and effort, and being able truly to care about other people and to sacrifice for them, over and over, in myriad petty little unsexy ways, every day. That is real freedom.” With this statement, Wallace brings to the forefront the idea that too often, we become so caught up in ourselves, that we slip into this form of unconsciousness where we feel, constantly, that we really are the center of the universe. Our feelings, our beliefs, and what we’re doing in 30 minutes, all matter more than what is happening right now. Instead of actually putting forth the time, effort, and thought into a relationship — whether it be with a brother, a sister, a parent, or a friend — we revolve all of our thoughts around ourselves; we aren’t truly present; we don’t detach ourselves from our own lives to be their for another, not even for a split-second. When this occurs, we are unable to show real compassion, to sacrifice for another, because selfishness surely doesn’t bring about these things. And, because we are not aware of the sufferings of others, we cannot truly be free. True freedom lies in being aware of and understanding another’s suffering. Wallace brings the audience to this conclusion through his discussion of everyday occurrences — going to work and “stressing out,” driving among obnoxious drivers, and having to shop in a crowded store where everyone is in “my way.” Because we are so absorbed in ourselves, our default setting is that life is about “me.” When we become slaves to self-centeredness, we also become slaves to so many vices that draw us away from true freedom — impatience, pride, anger, the list could continue on. Again, the only way to draw oneself away from such a mentality is to detach oneself from self, to become a conscious being that knows that “this is water,” this is reality.
What I found quite interesting when thinking about how to write my blog is how well Wallace’s speech ties into Lent. One common theme shared is this idea of detachment. As we are all aware, lent is about becoming a better person; it’s about breaking from the unconsciousness that is present within almost all of us; it’s about becoming more aware of ourselves, as well as of the sufferings and joys of others. I have personally struggled for quite a while with patience, and I think much of this is due to the fact that it is difficult to become rooted in reality and to truly understand others. I often find myself not living in the present, not being an active listener when I’m around others, all because I am often caught up in my own thoughts, and in this way, I strongly relate to and agree with what Wallace says.
David Foster Wallace’s speech “This is Water” seems to convey a sense of obliviousness to our surroundings. In his example of the fish, they go about their lives not even noticing the water that allows them to live; they just swim around not wondering how they are surviving. We can go our whole lives without really understanding what is around us, keeping us afloat. Wallace speaks about unhappiness and the different ways to approach it. We can be annoyed and self-centered, or we can understand that it is part of life and everyone experiences it. In Confirmation class, we recently listened to a speech. The woman said that everyone suffers, but we can offer up that suffering and do it joyfully. Silver linings can make all the difference. While this speech seems a little odd to present at the graduation of hope-filled seniors, this piece, in my opinion, was a great choice. Sometimes, we think that we have everything we need to sustain ourselves and then have a meltdown when we realize that we do not. Brutal honesty can be the best thing sometimes. Wallace depicts the mundane horrors of everyday life experiences so that they understand that these are normal encounters and everyone will face them at some point. To be completely honest, this speech seems somewhat like a cry for help from a mentally struggling man. However, we usually do not think anything of this until it is too late. Chester Bennington, lead singer of Linkin Park, took his own life shortly after releasing a song that many now claim to be his musical goodbye to the world. “Heavy” talks about holding on and how much easier it would be to let go. While things like these happen rarely, they should not be ignored. Perhaps Wallace could have been helped if someone had reached out. To me, this piece seems like a premonition of his death. Although he was trouble, David Foster Wallace was an incredible author with an incredible mind. It is a truly terrible thing that he was taken away from the world so soon.
ReplyDeleteEmma, you did an excellent job. I like how you related this commencement speech to the speech we heard about it confirmation. I also loved how you caught on to this cry for help. I felt similarly. Great job!
DeleteI thoroughly enjoyed your discussion of this piece. You really captured Wallace’s point well and I enjoyed your discussion about offering one’s woes up as a means of overcoming monotony and suffering. Your discussion about the cries for help, both by Wallace and Bennington, really struck a chord with me. Good job!
DeleteGood job Emma! I think that using the speech we heard at confirmation was a great example of an outside source, as well as the death of Chester Bennington.
DeleteIn Wallace’s speech, “This Is Water,” he uses many examples and stories about his life in which he wanted to share knowledge with the graduating class. He starts his opening with analogies of fish swimming along in water, not knowing they are in water. He then uses the rest of his speech to base the same opinion about humans and how we are in a default setting in life. The biggest point is this default setting. Day in and day out, people just go through life in a monotone type of way. This is the default setting. Wallace is trying to say that people should come out of this setting otherwise we lose focus of what is actually happening throughout life. Adults get up and go to work, then come home after an eight hour shift, tired and exhausted and moody but they need groceries, but the traffic to the store is terrible, people at the store are terrible, and overall it just sucks. He explains about yourself in the other peoples position during this terrible time. The person who cut him off could be seriously sick, the people there also just worked eight to ten hour shifts, and the cash register has been on all day and is frantically checking people out so her customers do not get angry. The main point about this is not to go to the default setting like the adult trying to get groceries. Even during school, kids sit there and daze off instead of paying attention like they should be. They get into a mood where they do not step back and realize the importance of paying attention and just shuffle through the day in monotone. He also mentions that there is no real atheism because people worship all types of things which can really hit home. My little sister worships her phone and if someone else were to touch it, she freaks out. But it’s not like she does it on purpose, she’s been that way since she’s gotten her phone. It’s completely unconscious of her to be extra careful when handling her phone and if it drops she cries. Overall, the main point is the default setting. The stuff that people do unconsciously in life without really having control unless they step back and really see the big picture. I think that is what Wallace wanted, for everyone to see the big picture, including the fish who did not realize they swim in water.
ReplyDeleteI really liked your summation of the story, and especially your example about your sister worshipping her phone, it happens so much and we don’t even realize how attached we really are.
DeleteAlthough David Wallace delivered a commencement speech that wasn’t quite normal or conventional compared towards the average, his message, in my opinion, is still extremely significant and is something that doesn’t get talked about too frequently. He highlights the fact that we can at times be completely oblivious to our surroundings, and how we can be in a rush over nothing.
ReplyDeleteHe begins with the short story about the two young fish swimming, not even aware what water is or that they’re swimming in it, saying “What the hell is water?” when an older fish asks them how the water is. This is a really good message for students, because when students get so caught up in their schooling and education, it is easy for them to get forget about some of the most important things in their life, such as keeping good communication with their friends and family. Although it seems crazy that the fish did not know what they were swimming in, I think it’s a great message for students to hear, especially since hearing that will make them evaluate their own lives and if they’re like the two young fish. He also talks about the daily struggles of an adult, sharing a story about going to a hard job all day, wanting to come home and eat but forgetting you have no food, so you have to go the grocery store but traffic is extremely slow and the store is packed, and it just gets worse from there. All of this rush and frustration at people and the situation and being in such a hurry just to do the same thing the next day. When you go to big cities it’s so easy to tell when people are in a rush and are stressed about their work, and they just follow the same strenuous and hurried routine just to the same thing the very next day. Wallace’s message is so important, and yet it seems the true struggles of an adult never get talked about as much as they should. I could not agree more with the points he makes.
I enjoyed how you pointed out that “the true struggles of an adult never get talked about as much as they should.” I completely agree with this statement, and I never really thought about how true that is until now. Well done!
DeleteI think you’re right in saying that his message is important for students. Though I do find that ironic, seeing as how this was a commencement speech and many of those very students had finished their education with the reception of their diplomas. Still, I think that in and of itself makes clear another point. The things Wallace is talking about are important for all, in and out of school, which is something you do address yourself.
DeleteI agree with your point that peope get caught up in the routine so easily, especially students. Also, I like how you mentioned he is talking about a subject that many people ignore or forget to because of the rush of life. Great job
DeleteI really enjoyed your up-front explanation of the commencement address. You dive right into the meaning and what you got out of it. People get caught in routine, we all are guilty of it. There’s something there for everyone. Good job.
DeleteAwareness is a fickle thing. It requires a rare degree of true consciousness many, including myself, would believe themselves incapable of. It requires a relocation of focus and of self. It requires a prolific understanding of more. It requires attention. On May 21, 2005, David Foster Wallace delivered his memorable, profound commencement speech “This is Water”. In this particular piece, one which Wallace himself only addressed as the “big scary” one, David Foster Wallace manages to persuade his audience of the values of awareness, connection, and a number of other varying themes of significant philosophical and social relevance. He achieves this with the delicacy required, intricately and successfully balancing both humor and gravity with a combination of quips, anecdotes, hypotheticals, questions, and, perhaps greatest of all, a strong undercurrent of integrity. Perhaps most prevalent is Wallace’s emphasis on empathy or, more accurately, the struggle to be sympathetic. Throughout, Wallace gives examples of situations in which one would fall short of the paradigm of empathy. He relays stories of routines and grocery stores and highways and pettiness with the exactitude of one who has experienced all of these rather human irritations. Wallace knows these to be expressions, experiences, and encounters familiar yet foreign to his audience of college graduates. And with that, he induces what can only be described as the shame of apathy. He makes the audience aware of its unawareness. He also identifies the root of this unawareness—self-centeredness. Wallace speaks of self-centeredness in what is perhaps the most literal interpretation possible; that is to say, we are all at the center of our own perspective, something that essentially cannot be severed from the human experience. This is where empathy and awareness intersect. It is impossible to be truly aware without empathy, and likewise, it is impossible to be truly empathetic without awareness. Somehow, Wallace manages to deliver all of this truth without ever lecturing his audience. He is not merely ‘spewing philosophy’ for the sake of appearing smart or interesting or, as Wallace himself would say, “well-adjusted”. He is aware that he is flawed and faulty in his own perceptions, yet the difference remains. Wallace is actively pursuing self-awareness and truth itself throughout “This is Water”. As odd as it may sound, to me, this work is strangely resonant and reminiscent of Hideaki Anno’s Neon Genesis Evangelion. Both men suffered greatly with mental illness, and their pieces were reflective of that fact. Anno, much like Wallace, focused on themes of isolation, apathy, and selfishness without an emphasis on any sort of judgement. Neither feel preachy. Instead, they are living, breathing testaments of pain endured and questions left unanswered. To me, “This is Water” is an existential quandary, a soul-search, that is never truly resolved.
ReplyDeleteAnna, you did an awesome job with this analysis! I also found it fascinating how self aware Wallace is and how he shares his flaws and such with the audience. Great job!
DeleteThis is awesome! Your points are solid and I agree that the main point deals with our awareness. Wallace was the perfect person to give the commencement speech.
DeleteAfter listening to and reading David Foster Wallace’s 2005 Kenyon commencement speech, it fairly plain to see that the main point Wallace is trying to convey to the graduating class is that the true purpose of our education is to help us transcend humanity’s hard-wired settings of judgment and ridicule and self-centeredness to adopt a more open-minded train of thought on a regular basis, or as Wallace himself stated, “to keep from going through your comfortable, prosperous, respectable adult life dead, a slave to your head and your natural default setting of being uniquely, completely, imperially alone, day in and day out.” To me, this makes sense. If you are always going about your life miserable, grouchy, and unhappy due to an anger and impatience with society (which, I admit, I often do), your education has failed you. Wallace makes his point with his story about the after-work trip to the supermarket. Wallace describes a general feeling of impatience that many of us feel when we have to do something after school when we’d much rather go home and relax, with the knowledge that tomorrow brings more of what happened today. It is this feeling of impatience that makes many people unhappy, dead, and a slave to their minds. He uses this story to reinforce his small, ironic point that people who commit suicide are already dead inside because they have become slaves to their mind. If we can disembark from this train of thought and become less self-centered, our education has succeeded in getting us to realize that we are not the only person on this planet.
ReplyDeleteIf there is anything I do not totally agree with in this address, it is that humans are hard-wired to have this self-centered outlook on life. I, personally, feel like this is more of a learned behavior. I feel that the reason someone is like this is because other people are. In his allegory of the supermarket, Wallace even describes his pondering that everyone else at the store that day feels the same way he does. Because so many people are like this, it only makes sense to me that people who feel like this pass these feelings on to their children or to other people they encounter. If an optimist regularly spends time around pessimists, I would think the optimist would adopt thee same pessimistic feelings. Therefore, I think this type of behavior is learned, not inherited.
Jarret, your discussion of how we are oftentimes enslaved to our minds, I thought, was quite interesting. You did a great job of connecting this idea with the ideas expressed by Wallace in his piece. This feeling of enslavement, I think, also contributes to the presence of sin/vice. And, as you also mentioned, the only way to achieve true freedom is through realizing “that we are not the only person on the this planet.” This is so true, as true freedom only comes through an understanding of others and reality.
DeleteI really like your analysis of this self-centered nature of humanity. It’s something I had not mentioned, but is extremely important to the overall message of the commencement address. Great job, orverall.
Delete“...the most obvious, ubiquitous, important realities are often the ones that are hardest to see and talk about,” David Foster Wallace.
ReplyDeletePeople everyday go through the same routine. Wake up, eat, brush teeth, get dressed, go to work or school, etc. We do these things without conscious thoughts behind them. We ignore the details that are worthy of notice. David Foster Wallace presents in his speech, “This Is Water,” the facts of how and why we mindlessly work. He explains that as humans we are wired to think like this and just get it done, but he encourages us to change. David uses an example of our mindlessness and self centeredness with a story of driving home in traffic. We despise everything going wrong and notice all the annoyances. Also, we prefer to think miserably because nothing is going our way instead of thinking of the good. David switches the mood of the story to a more positive mindset. He calls us to think of the situation less self centered and more about others around us. The driver who just cut him off could be in a rush to the hospital. The SUV driver could be overcoming a problem. David says thinking like this enables us to become more compassionate and more openminded. We can learn to think of others. David does something interesting within his speech. He repeats that he is not tell the students how they should think, rather, he is explaining the results of changing. He also shows his understanding that this takes work and time to adjust, and somedays it will be extremely difficult to do. David does this to explain he is the same as the students. The main point of the speech is to notice more. We need to stop being zombies and going through the routine. We need to actively go through each day because it will matter in the end. Life is not long, and in order to not have regrets or a petty-filled life we need to do something. David is warning us of our default settings, and he invites and shows us a way to change them for the good.
I agree with his message to focus on what is going around us more. Too often, I go through school zoned out and ignoring the information being presented to me, but I feel like many students do the same. It is very difficult to pay attention sometimes, but, as a students, we need to be active in our lives because it goes by so fast.
Maddie, I think you did a great job analyzing Wallace’s piece and his motives in delivering it. Too often, we really are so self-centered and mindless, and as a result, we find it difficult to find compassion and empathy for others. This idea really reminds me of Adichie’s “The Danger of a Single Story,” in which she alludes to the fact that we often fail to find a connection with others, which again, is similar to what Wallace’s main point appears to be. Great job!
DeleteI agree with what your main point is! We need to stop going through the motions like you said and become more active in our learning. Good job
DeleteDavid Wallace’s commencement speech “This is Water” is very moving and has a sort of hardened atmosphere around it. Wallace comes out and says he is not some wise man that is gonna tell the graduates that after college life is just going to be a breeze. Life is going to have it’s good and bad days but we get to choose whether we can make good from the bad. He goes on to say that everyone is at the center of their own experience. There is some truth to that, and he also states that people are self-centered. Wallace uses a grocery store and bad traffic as an example of self-centeredness. After the story he gives examples of how another person could be having a way worse day than them. This proves that we need to have awareness for and of others. Whenever we have a bad day we often think the world has something against us, but what we do not do is think about what other hardships that people endure-which are much worse than ours. Becoming aware of others will give people the ability to empathize with others, which can bring us closer as humans. This is such an obvious point that no one really talks about. When people give commencement speeches they do not talk about the fullness of adult life. I think Wallace doing this was a great idea because it is the truth about life and students need to hear that. Focusing and paying attention to things other than ourselves is what will get us places in our lives. It helps us greatly in learning. We need to get away from our default settings and broaden our spectrums to understand how this world truly works. I think Wallace does an excellent job in this speech and there’s so much truthfulness to it. I could not agree more with the point Wallace is making
ReplyDeleteI completely agree that most people are self-centered. By getting away from our default setting, I believe that we will be able to learn more than ever. Also, you did a great job explaining what you think the main ideas are in “This is Water.”
DeleteI agree with this blog entirely. I can confess to falling into that default setting and it is hard to come out of. I think your main ideas are firm
DeleteDavid Foster Wallace’s commencement speech titled, “This is Water,” was extremely powerful and self-realizing. His main focus was about how to think. Many people think they are the center of the world. This may be true because we experience things different than anyone else. We talk to ourselves internally and figure out certain situations for ourselves. David Foster Wallace used the example of standing in line at a grocery store check out as an example of how we can focus on thinking in a different way than normal. He said that we may get frustrated by standing in a long line and not even realize what others may think or if they are busier than we are. We have to think about other as well as ourselves. We cannot be selfish. We have to help others along the way. David Foster Wallace also talked about awareness and how important it is. We need to be aware of our surroundings and what is true. This awareness helps us look at think differently because we get to choose how to look at life, just like David Forster Wallace said, and this awareness can help us see much more than ever before and give us a sense of freedom. I agree with these points that David Foster Wallace makes. Everyone needs to be more self aware and aware of others’ feelings as well. Sometimes it is not all about us. The main statement I like about this speech was that he said sometimes he cannot get out of his hardwired thinking. He said that sometimes he does not even waste his energy to think about what others may be thinking. Although this is negative, I agree with it. Sometimes we just sit back and think about ourselves and it is selfish, but we all do it from time to time. Even though we need some personal days, we still need to take care of our friends, family, and maybe even strangers. When David Foster Wallace used the statement “this is water,” I believe he meant something along the lines of being aware that we are all human and in this world together.
ReplyDeleteYou’re right. Sometimes it is not all about us. I have to say, you did a good job on this, although I do have a few things I’d like to challenge you on. You say that some of his views raised are negative. Why would that be? Are they really negative, or are they just honest? I would honestly love further insight on this, though I know my posting time may not be conducive to an answer. Regardless, I think you did a good job providing strong reasons and defenses for your opinions on his piece.
DeleteGreat point that we need to stop thinking for ourselves and take into consideration others’ situations. Also, I liked how you stated that people need to be more helpful in life, rather than doing everything because we have to.
Delete“This is Water,” is an amazing commencement address given by David Foster Wallace. The speech has a very simple message behind it, one that everyone must learn at some point in their life. The message is that life will never become easy. There are always going to be difficulties. The wider point is that nobody will have an easy life, and the difficulty can become the default setting for people. They just wander through life, effectively dead. Never really having any true experiences. All they do is go to work, go home, and sleep. They repeat this pattern every day until death. Wallace is giving these graduates a warning, sometimes there will be a ditch they fall into. How often do we find the weeks of school here blending together, and suddenly an entire month has gone by without us noticing? Those are the ditches we fall into. Adults in normal life often have it worse off. Business trips to other states and other countries happen so often that salesmen fall into ditches despite constantly moving around. Everywhere they visit just joins the collective mass of “elsewhere places.” Sometimes they will find difficulty escaping the ditch. It is our job, as Wallace points out, to see the ditch other people are in, and try to be as helpful as we can. As Wallace says, a mean lady in the store could be going through the loss of her husband. The least we can do for those people is be nice. Wallace’s address and it’s point is made even more clear by his suicide. He gives the students a warning of how avoid the ditches in life, and he kills himself after he cannot find an escape for his own ditches. I agree with much, but not all of what Wallace says. The way he portrays the ditches people enter makes them almost impossible to escape. Some ditches will be easier to escape than others. It’s going to be much easier to escape the ditch of a repetitive job than to escape the loss of a loved one. Some ditches can be easy to escape, but hard to notice. That repetitive job may not seem like a problem as the years and decades of adult life all blend together. Just as the fish do, we have to keep reminding ourselves what water is.
ReplyDeleteDominic, I really enjoyed your discussion of this piece. I thought you captured the essence of his point in a unique way. I found your discussion of the “ditches” we all are prone to fall into pertinent, as well as timely, as Quarter 4 is often the roughest, most monotonous quarter. Good work!
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