Peter Caty/ The Mirror
What do you want to do before you die? Have you ever thought about it? Made a list and actually set out to complete it?
This is the main goal of the cast of ‘The Buried Life,’ the selected FUSA speaker this past Tuesday. At 8:30 pm, the LLBCC was crowded with students, eagerly awaiting for the Canadian foursome to appear.
For those in the know, ‘The Buried Life’ is an MTV show about four friends–Dave Lingwood, Duncan & Johnnie Penn & Ben Nemtin–trying to complete their bucket lists. ‘What do you want to do before you die?’ is the question that drives these four to attempt to achieve the impossible. But the show doesn’t just focus on the projects they want to complete–for every item crossed off their list, the Canadian foursome help a stranger fulfill his or her dream.
The attractive four introduced themselves to Fairfield, and proceeded to give background information on ‘The Buried Life.’ TBL started way back in 2006; they talked about how they all felt as though something was missing from their life, and how they then came up with a list of everything they wanted to do.
“In a world with no boundaries, what would we want to do? We’d go on Saturday Night Live, we’d be on the cover of Rolling Stone, we’d pay off our parent’s mortgages… We don’t want to wait until we’re tired to do what we want to do,” explained Ben Nemtin. “So we had the list, and now we needed a name.” The title ‘The Buried Life’ comes from a poem by Matthew Arnold that Jonnie had come across in an English class.
“This poem speaks exactly to the feeling we had been talking about ..thats this feeling that your day to day life becomes so cumbersome, that it actually buries the life that you want to live, and everybody’s got this desire to live their buried life. And the poem was called ‘The Buried Life,’ Nemtin continued.
They continued to talk about their travels and the effort they put in to completing their lists. The foursome would rent an RV, pull out a phonebook and just call companies, explaining their mission and what they wanted to do. Most places agreed. Together, they have completed such tasks as singing the national anthem at a sports game, riding a bull (Dave Lingwood’s idea), and playing basketball with President Obama. “We didn’t have any money. We wanted to see how much could be accomplished, to prove to ourselves what was possible,” said Jonnie Penn.
In 2009, MTV contacted the four, asking for a show. The friends were allowed to call the shots, and so they set out to record 8 episodes of the most difficult projects to complete from their list. The documentary reality show has been a big success and has already been booked for a second season.
But it’s not just fun and games for these guys. Part of their mission is to also help strangers complete their projects from their bucket lists. Jonnie Penn told the story of Brent, a friend of theirs who wanted to give back to homeless shelters. To help him out, they went in search of a used car dealer who would give them a cheap truck. One car dealer agreed to sell them a $2100 car for $440, because people had helped his daughter realize her dream of going to Thailand. ‘The Buried Life’ boys were able to help their friend Brent deliver food to the homeless; it was after this event that they decided to help strangers.
“That day… taught us three lessons that keep us going even to today,” Penn said. “The reason that we’re talking with you today is because we feel like these lessons are worth sharing.” The lessons were perseverance, networking, and helping people.
Another story involved a man from Dallas named Sam. He had become estranged from his son for seventeen years and really wanted to reconnect with him. The Buried Life boys spent three months tracking the son down and finally found him on Facebook. They contacted him in what Duncan Penn called “one of [his] most awkward conversations ever,” in which he was able to convince the son to speak to Sam on the phone. Later they ended up meeting, and the reconnection was probably one of the most sentimental episodes of the first season.
Although the talk was humorous–the boys bragged about partying in the Playboy mansion–it was mostly inspirational. The Buried Life boys stressed the importance of doing what you do and giving back to people. The Buried Life “was largely about proving to ourselves that these things were possible,” stated Duncan Penn. The idea that anything is possible and that there are no boundaries is the main essence of their show. And the idea of doing things for others is “bigger than us, bigger than all of us,” added Nemtin.
The end of the talk involved students getting up at a microphone and stating what it was they wanted to do before they died. The answers ranged from wanting a hug from one of the guys, to learning a skill or performing on stage to opening up a clinic and helping others.
Jonnie Penn stated, “If you have something you want to do with your life, don’t take no for an answer. If it means something to you, do it. And you don’t have to listen to anybody else, or whatever anybody else thinks of what you want to do, just do it, if you feel it is important.”
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