I wasn't there.

Being who I am, it is rare that I will have enough patience to complete a long book unless it is read in one sitting. I read roughly three to five books at a time and seldom make it to the end of any of them. Due to the fact that this is such a big trend for me I find books that will interest me the most. Fiction is a rare read. I tend to be drawn to non-fiction, specifically (auto)biographies and inspirational books that are a bit quirky. 

Christmas 2011 I was in an independent bookstore with my brother in DC and came across This is Water by David Foster Wallace. I wrote it down with an intent to buy and read it when I had time. Spring 2012 during the end of my final senior year I decided it was time to add it to my collection of reads that were already in rotation. It immediately drew me in on the first page. Within less than a week I was done and reread it immediately because its not like I had any other books to read. (Pure sarcasm if you didn't catch that) 

This is Water is Wallace's 2005 commencement speech to the graduating class at Kenyon College. He begins with a story where an old fish asks two young fish "How's the water". The young fish reply with "What the hell is water?". Deep right? (No pun intended) Wallace explains that the story isn't for him to be that wise old fish to explain life but to merely point out that the most obvious of things are the hardest to see and talk about. The speech goes on to discuss the cliches of commencement speeches, teaching you how to think and how insulting that can be. He tells more short didactic stories that draw you in and make you wonder where is this man going. In the end you realize with the help of Mr. Wallace of course, that life is your real education, your "job of a lifetime". 

I reread this book in hopes that I could create my own graduation memory. Graduation day arrived and I looked around and realized I didn't have a relationship with anyone so when it was time to go though the "remember when" segment of the ceremony I zoned out. Then the speaker began his speech and I focused on him for one or two minutes hoping he would be as amazing as David Foster Wallace. Nope, didn't happen. I zoned out once again. By the end of the whole ceremony I had recreated a graduation ceremony that I would have actually enjoyed. So when I passed a group of graduates discussing what they thought was interesting about what the speaker had said, in my mind i was thinking "I don't remember that". Instead what I remembered was that when I walked across that stage my job of a lifetime was beginning and no degree can prepare me for what I was to start learning. 

Sometimes we have to make our own experiences in order to learn more than what we can receive from any random memory someone else attempts to create for us.