In 2005, David Foster Wallace gave a commencement speech to the graduating class at Kenyon College (the full transcript can be found here). He begins with a parable:

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?”

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I have to admit, I had a pretty comfortable childhood. I always had food at the table, a bed to sleep on and family members who truly cared for my wellbeing. However, as a payment for this comfort, I also quietly accepted all the narratives whispered to me. From social narratives of traditional education to more esoteric narratives of Christian doctrines, I never really put much effort into shaping my own values or beliefs. They were just kind of given to me, and I quietly conformed.

Recently though, I’ve begun questioning some of these narratives. While I was lucky to have been raised with high moral principles, I do wonder how many of these I’ve accepted unconsciously and require re-examining. For instance, doing Biomedicine showed me that I really don’t know as much as I think – an idea which crushed a narrative I’d held for a long time. This narrative was built up on 18 years of flowery pampering and breaking this illusion hurt quite a lot.

But while the process of re-examining narratives may be uncomfortable, avoiding this would be surrendering to a state of unconsciousness, a default setting: a cost I feel is simply too great. And so, I’ve decided to embark on the strange new journey of trying to be more conscious and alive. Where this will end up, and what the first step is, I don’t really know. But I guess that’s part of the journey.

David Foster Wallace ends his speech with a challenge:

It is about the real value of a real education, which has almost nothing to do with knowledge, and everything to do with simple awareness; awareness of what is so real and essential, so hidden in plain sight all around us, all the time, that we have to keep reminding ourselves over and over:

“This is water.”