Graduation

As it is that time of year again, I thought I might take just a minute to think about the value of education. Is there real value to what we do while sitting in class? Right now my head is spinning with a mixture of literary criticism and organic reaction mechanisms as we approach final exams, so it is quite impossible for me to express my views on education as pointedly or insightfully (which Firefox is telling me is not a word) as I would like, but I'll give it a try.


I will admit I am taking the easy route and simply quoting somebody else when I say that the value in education is awareness, and that a real education is not about acquired knowledge but about consciously choosing what to think about. I've summarized David Foster Wallace here (may he rest in peace), so I might as well give you the whole thing. Here is his commencement speech he gave to Kenyon College for the class of 2005. It is one of my favorites. It is kind of long for most casual observers, but anybody getting a liberal arts degree should hear it or read it. It's called "This is Water"


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M5THXa_H_N8&feature=related (part 1)


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uSAzbSQqals&feature=related (part 2)

One of my goals upon coming to college was to "figure out a good answer for 'What do you do with an English Major?'. You know, one that puts both my chemical engineer grandfather and my diet-coke-drinking-Mary-Kay-makeup-saleswoman aunt Connie in their place." -as I wrote in my scholarship application which you can read here:
http://www.facebook.com/notes.php?id=1558500071#!/note.php?note_id=150171138893 

for me, "This is Water" is the answer to that question; you consciously choose what to think about.

In The Library

So, I don't know why I get the urge to blog while I have other homework to do. no. wait. Of course I know why, but it did serve as a nice introduction to tell you where I am and why I'm writing. I'm working on an analysis paper examining the values of stewardship and sacrifice in LOTR and how it relates to issues in sustainability literature. But that has really nothing to do with the quote that popped into my head which I wanted to share.

it is from Madame Bovary and it goes like this:
Le plus médiocre libertin a rêvé des sultanes; chaque notaire porte en soi les débris d'un poête
which translated goes like this:
"The most halfhearted libertine has dreamed of sultans' wives; every notary carries within him the remains of a poet."

What do you think? I'm going to expand on this in some future post, but I just wanted to publish the quote somewhere right now so that I don't forget to think about what it means again, sometime after I've finished my sustainability paper.

-Gus