"Well, I would say I'm just drifting. Here in the pool. It's very comfortable to drift here."
-Ben Braddock
Drifting sucks. Drifting is akin to a slow death in this sink or swim world but there are times where it's beneficial. In college, it's okay to float from class to class, flock from this group to that group and dabble in different majors. After graduation, its time to celebrate; its time to be exalted by family and friends. After the party's over, the time for reflection commences: the time comes to actually read the diploma and see what this piece of paper qualifies the wielder to do. Visions of the future washes over. Then it becomes difficult to breath, a sinking feeling envelopes the stomach. Accolades and accomplishments are nothing more than resume fodder. Our path is no longer clear; our worldview skewed. The perfect plan emplaced upon graduation is deviated from after the umpteenth rejection. Poor job prospects dampen the burning passion we covet but cannot claim. The where, when, how, who and why's push us under water. We drown in the anxiety of real bills and accumulated debt. Not only are we worried about the future, it feels easier to sink.
Ben Braddock is flooded with worries during his parents display of him. Everyone throws advice toward him; there are so many floats being thrown out and yet he shows no desire to be saved. When he decides he wants to be saved, he grabs onto the float thrown by the most attractive of all his parents friends. He's content to drift in and out of his parents pool and in and out of bed with Mrs. Robinson. Ben is not sure of what his accomplishments mean or what they say about him. Even though Ben is drifting, at least he's still afloat. Mrs. Robinson has been sinking for a long time and has long lost interest in coming up for air. She started drifting after becoming pregnant with Elaine, giving up her art major and succumbing to Mr. Robinson's proposal to marriage. For years and years, she's allowed alcohol and her husband's late nights to weigh her down. The float Mrs. Robinson threw out was really an anchor. Mrs. Robinson's dilemma is not different from many older people who feel this way about their job or marriage, it's just a more acceptable form of sinking.
Mr. Robinson tells Ben to sow his wild oats and have fun as a young man. This statement is ironic considering Mr. Robinson was doing the same with Mrs. Robinson when she became pregnant. Mistakes made in youthful exuberance have lasting consequences into old age. Ben does not want to be where Mrs. Robinson is, desiring a second chance at mid-life. It's easy to fawn for youth, the chance to swim down a new stream before the anxiety of real bills and accumulated debt extinguished the passion we coveted but could not claim. Life ebbs and flows; swimming or sinking depends more on current than strength or skill. This is something young people today, myself included, should have heard a long time ago. We've been taught to swim or sink when sometimes drifting is the best option. It's important to look up and see the vastness of the sky; feel and smell the freshness of the air and glean rays from the sun; to close our eyes and just float.
