Tuesday Afternoon Diversion: 'This Is Water' By David Foster Wallace

By Chuck Sudo in Arts & Entertainment on May 21, 2013 8:00PM

"The fact is, in the day to day trenches of adult existence, banal platitudes can have a life or death importance," David Foster Wallace told a class of graduates at Kenyon College in a 2005 commencement speech. "The fact is, you graduating seniors do not yet have any clue what 'day in, day out' really means."

Ain't that the truth. We graduate from college—or in my case, boot camp—thinking we have the world by the balls before we're suddenly swept up by routine and, next we know, we suddenly have careers, relationships and other First World problems we didn't envision.

Wallace's speech (which you can listen to in full here) warns Kenyon's graduates that their education doesn't stop on the campus—lessons can be learned in mundane arenas like the supermarket, DMV and during an infuriating rush hour commute if only we keep an open mind. Wallace's speech deftly bridges the gap between chastisement and hope for a new generation, while never succumbing to the "banal platitudes" that sink many commencement speeches. The genius of this speech isn't that Foster wrote it. It's that he was brave enough to not blow smoke up the collective ass of this graduating class and tell them the truth.

Here is one of the more memorable portions of Wallace's Kenyon commencement speech, given new life thanks to motion graphics and live animation courtesy of The Glossary. If you have a child or loved one graduating college this spring and feel the commencement speech didn't go far enough, show them this.