Bill Watterson Speaks

I somehow never imagined that Bill Watterson would give a commencement address. After all, the guy is so anti-publicity. But he did, at his alma mater, Kenyon College, way back in 1990.

Watterson talked about his fondest college memories, “where things were done out of some inexplicable inner imperative, rather than because the work was demanded”. Like the time he painted Michelangelo's “Creation of Adam” on the ceiling of his dorm room! Was it good? Nope, but “what the work lacked in color sense and technical flourish, it gained in the incongruity of having a High Renaissance masterpiece in a college dorm that had the unmistakable odor of old beer cans and older laundry.” Which led him to this Great Truth:
“It's surprising how hard we'll work when the work is done just for ourselves.”

Watterson advocated keeping the mind active because “the mind is like a car battery -- it recharges by running”. He points this is tough once out of school/college because:
“At school, new ideas are thrust at you every day. Out in the world, you'll have to find the inner motivation to search for new ideas on your own.”

Watterson urges you to do what you love, not settle for a real job (“A real job is a job you hate”). Otherwise, he warns you will end up being part of Thoerau's “mass of men lead(ing) lives of quiet desperation.” He warns that:
“Selling out is usually more a matter of buying in. Sell out, and you're really buying into someone else's system of values, rules and rewards.”
Not selling out is very tough, because:
“A person happy doing his own work is usually considered an eccentric, if not a subversive. Ambition is only understood if it's to rise to the top of some imaginary ladder of success...You'll be told in a hundred ways, some subtle and some not, to keep climbing, and never be satisfied with where you are, who you are, and what you're doing.”
But the struggle is worth the fight:
“To invent your own life's meaning is not easy, but it's still allowed, and I think you'll be happier for the trouble.”

Like many others, Watterson feels that “a good part of life” is “not knowing where you're going or what you're doing” and that “The truth is, most of us discover where we are headed when we arrive.”

Watterson is like Richard Feynman: brilliant, witty and articulate. Unfortunately, one of them stays away from the limelight; and the other lived in the pre-Internet, pre-video-camera-on-every-phone era…

Comments

  1. KumarNovember 2, 2013 at 4:46 PM

    I like the paradigm of Bill Watterson, which many of us who are aware the implications of competitive rat-racing, slogging on and on with what is thrust on you, the erosion of ever so many good things with the mindless sweep of commercialism etc. would also appreciate.

    His well-expressed words, "To invent your own life's meaning is not easy, but it's still allowed, and I think you'll be happier for the trouble" are indeed words of wisdom.

    Today, we in India live under very similar settings that all the well-developed nations of the world had, during their process of transformation. Sadly, the demands are demoralizing many, knowing our country has certain extra problems compared to many others. The proof of psychological stress taking its toll is clearly seen almost daily in our newspapers. That is when we need the words of wisdom from those who have seen it all elsewhere and who learnt to defend themselves against the onslaught of competitive commercialism and other demands made on us by the society.

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