Author: Alana Saltz
ECLS Professor Damian Stocking gave a talk on Tuesday, Sept. 23, as part of the “What Matters to Me and Why” lecture series. The event was hosted by the Office for Religious & Spiritual Life and was held in Lower Herrick. There were about 50 people in attendance.
“Do you ever have one of those days where you feel under-prepared for something?” Stocking asked after taking a seat in front of the audience.
The purpose of the “What Matters to Me and Why” series is for professors to discuss their values. Stocking first told the audience that he plays a “values game” with his family around the requirements he has for his daughter’s dating life. He believes that values exist to be discovered mutually with others, not simply something that you develop on your own.
Stocking said that the one word that came to mind when he thought about the most important value to him was joy. “Is that a value?” he asked. “That’s the only thing I really do value.” He told a story about when he and his sister would go to the beach as children. They would look for the place where the waves came in, hold hands, and let the waves crash into themselves. The waves would knock them both down and they would stand up and let the waves crash into them again. “That is the experience I most value,” Stocking said.
He advised against self-pity, a message he learned as a child from his father, and emphasized the need to be competent in the things that you do. “It sounds boring, but [that’s what] allows you to stand under the crashing wave,” Stocking said.
Stocking also discussed the importance of preparing for “the experience of being blown away by things.” The example he used was going to the National Gallery in London when he was 17. At first he was reluctant to be there because he was a “punk rock kid” and didn’t want to be on the trip at all, until he saw two sisters discussing questions out of an art booklet for kids.
When he really started looking at the artwork through the girls’ questions about it, he realized the potential to experience life through the art and “allowing the infinite possibility of things.”
While Stocking said that he was hesitant to discuss how people fit into his value system, he did talk about limitations and the “courage of being completely limited in front of somebody” in order to truly commit to them. He discussed the idea of “limitlessness” and experiencing the joy of people blowing you away. “You should value the disruptive in people,” he said.
The lecture caused students to reflect on their own value systems. “I think that Professor Stocking was a good choice for the first speaker in the ‘What Matters to Me and Why’ lecture series,” Ahuva Zaches (senior) said. “His appeal as an English professor drew in many people that might not have otherwise attended the event. I also think that the lecture caused me to question my understanding of what a value could be.”
“Although he kept questioning if his discussion responded to the prompt [of talking about values], he discussed values with accessible personal reflections,” Gisele Goldwater-Feldman (junior) said. “Additionally, he actively illustrated these values throughout the talk with his successful attempts to interact openly and honestly with the audience. His values resonated and it was a valuable lecture – pun intended.”
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