The import of ‘Breaking Good’
A fictional meth dealer might seem an unusual source of life lessons for graduating college seniors, but Harvard President Drew Faust said Tuesday that there’s at least one aspect of television’s Walter White that is worth emulating: He wasn’t afraid. White, the central character of the television series “Breaking Bad,” is a middle-aged chemistry teacher who becomes a drug dealer after learning he has terminal cancer. During an on-campus public discussion with Faust last month, the show’s creator, Vincent Gilligan, said that White’s terminal illness freed him from the fear that had held him to the straight and narrow. Harvard College’s Class of 2014, whose members will receive their diplomas at Thursday’s Commencement ceremonies, should consider their own futures with a similar fearlessness, Faust said. But where White’s selfish motivations led him into a downward spiral, she urged graduates to “break good,” “face outward,” and act for the betterment of the larger...