THIS IS WATER: SOME THOUGHTS, DELIVERED ON A SIGNIFICANT OCCASION, ABOUT LIVING A COMPASSIONATE LIFE

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THIS IS WATER: SOME THOUGHTS, DELIVERED ON A SIGNIFICANT OCCASION, ABOUT LIVING A COMPASSIONATE LIFE

I can’t recall exactly how I stumbled across this speech by David Foster Wallace at Kenyon College in 2005, but I can certainly recall how profoundly it moved me.

I read it. I read it again. I went back to certain passages. Read. Re-read. I scoured the web for video, audio, anything… I wanted to experience it in all possible forms.

Unfortunately, there was nothing more than the now defunct web page where I’d first found it, but in time, I realized that that was all I needed. I kept going back, almost daily, to read the speech in it’s entirety and see how it sat with me or how it’s contents had taken on new meaning based on what I’d experienced that day.

As of now, the speech is only available in print (or in audiobook form) and I’m asking you to please…please read it. The “it changed my life” angle is so cliched and overdone at this point that it’s totally lost its significance (which is why I’m reluctant to actually use it) but I’m telling you, straight-up, this changed me. It’s a perspective that will move you, make sense and have practical application regardless of what your worldview is. All you need is a half an hour (if you read/listen at a pace that lends itself to comprehension) and an open mind.

I hope you enjoy, and learn from it as much as I did (and still am.)

I wish you way more than luck.