Reader Shakti left this curious comment about an obscure author who made a speech at a high school graduation ceremony that was so bad people in the audience booed him. Here is a part I find curious in the speech:
I have an absolutely clear memory of being 18 and graduating from Roosevelt High School. I remember that many things made me feel happy, and that I pursued those things with vigor, but I also remember that I dreaded adulthood, and even more, old age and death, and that no matter what I was doing, no matter how good were the good times, somewhere at the bottom—underneath the music and the friends, the late nights and the fun—somewhere at the bottom there was always an awareness that this wasn’t going to last forever, and that I would have to get old like everyone else, which might not be so fun, and that one day, I would die, which wouldn’t be fun, either.
This is precisely what we talked about when we discussed the negative mother complex. This gentleman was intensely immature when he left high school (fear of adulthood is a sign of immaturity) and he remained stuck in this infantile mode of behavior. Now all he an do to enjoy life at least marginally is bully young people and try to spoil their graduation ceremony.
The rest of the speech should have been delivered at a psychoanalyst’s office many years ago. Then the poor author would have gotten help for his neurotic condition and wouldn’t need to badger others with it.
I always find it disgusting when instead of seeking professional help, people engage in these nauseating exhibitions of the suppurating sores of their psyche. It would never occur to anybody to remove a bandage that covers a gangrened limb and stick it into people’s faces during a festive occasion, would it? So why is it so much more acceptable to exhibit decomposing, putrefacient souls to innocent bystanders?
P.S. And this is what I will do to anybody who dares to say a bad word about Enlightenment.
Clarissa's Blog 
What is music coming backwards out of a graveyard?
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Beethoven decomposing
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Ha ha ha!! This is the best. 🙂
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Having now listened to most of this guy’s speech on Youtube I am inclined to agree. I don’t think I want to read his books either. He sounds like David Sedaris without the humor.
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Ah, I had no idea there was a video version. Must be a hoot.
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After Guterson finished, a student who was preparing to play the song “Lean on Me,” on the guitar, looked down from the stage at his fellow classmates and said,
“Let’s all just bring each other back up.”
Quasi Buddhist/existentialist thought is always super depressing, in my opinion. Most graduation speeches focus on students being in the littoral zone of promise and potential. I knew you’d hate the dissing of the Enlightenment but didn’t know how you’d take a guy telling high school graduates they are responsible for their own happiness.
I disagree about his never seeking professional help. The speaker has probably been to at least one, if not several therapists. It probably doesn’t make him pleasant to be around though. :p
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“didn’t know how you’d take a guy telling high school graduates they are responsible for their own happiness.”
– This message was completely lost in the endless barrage of complaints about the hardships of being an adult. Even 5-year-olds who are socialized normally know that festive occasions have appropriate codes of behavior.
“I disagree about his never seeking professional help. The speaker has probably been to at least one, if not several therapists. It probably doesn’t make him pleasant to be around though.”
– He sounds like a person with very severe mental issue, so whatever he got was not professional help. I can easily believe that he has a bunch of psychotropic prescriptions, though.
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What is this, some sort of a mail order bride ring?
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Nah, highly incompetent money scam. Someone who’s running around asking for web design help doesn’t have the organizational capabilities to run an actual mail order bride ring.
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“Someone who’s running around asking for web design help doesn’t have the organizational capabilities to run an actual mail order bride ring.”
– Good point. 🙂
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