Wallowing in a cliche — and finding meaning

Now, if you tried to derive from first principles what’s right for a dog owner, you’d probably have just as much trouble as if you tried to derive what’s right for a man. So perhaps we haven’t answered the question directly. But I would argue that we’ve made some interesting progress. While there’s a broad cultural idea of what is right for a man — a man shouldn’t steal or kill, for instance — this idea is pretty bland. It doesn’t tell you specific details about how to live your life. There is a much more precise cultural idea, however, of what’s right for a dog owner — feeding, walking, house-breaking — that would tell you directly what’s the right thing to do.

Of course, these norms are purely cultural; they provide no ethical imperatives or absolute morality. So what can we do with them? Another one of MacIntyre’s ideas might be useful here. He points out that it is impossible to find meaning in a life that is thoroughly devoid of narrative context. That is, the only way we give meaning to our lives is by situating them within a larger story or history. A moment in life that I remember fondly will likely tell a story in its own right, as well as fit in to a grander narrative of which I am a part. It is difficult to have meaningful experiences any other way.

This idea of narrative-as-meaning suggests that we can use our cultural intuition to provide context for our lives. I’m “in college,” sure, but what does that mean? How does it fit in the story of my life? Ultimately, that’s up to me, but cultural norms can provide a helping hand. We’re lucky to have a culture that has quite a few ideas of what college life “should” be like. One of my favorite examples is the a song in the musical “Avenue Q” called “I Wish I Could Go Back to College.” The characters reminisce: “I wish I could just drop a class; or get into a play; or change my major; or fuck my TA ... I need an academic adviser to point the way!”

Obviously getting into a play isn’t a moral imperative, but it’s a very “college” thing to do. I think that these little norms — spelled out specifically for each individual — give us something to work with when we’re trying to put our lives in narrative context. They are endless suggestions about what “being in college” should mean, and I think we pass up a brilliant opportunity if we reject them.

Unfortunately, I worry that we are too quick to do just that. I could be wrong, but my sense is that we often spit in the face of these stereotypes, saying, “Not me, man. You can’t pigeonhole me into some flip-flop wearing, beer-drinking, paper-writing mold. I’m out to break the mold!” But unless we find some cultural norm deeply harmful — like a teetotaller might find the prevalence of alcohol — I see nothing to lose and much to gain in welcoming these stereotypes. Given that a meaningful life needs narrative context, we can either accept the cultural norms we’re given or face the daunting task of constructing our own.

So take up the dry erase board messages, impossible problem sets, internship interviews, misguided romances, archsings, club life and student government fiascos. Use them to situate the rest of your days here. We’re all part of the cliched college experience. Take comfort in it, embrace it, enjoy it. Go Tigers!

Greg Burnham is a math major from Memphis, Tenn. He can be reached at gburnham@princeton.edu.