Personal Narrative: Austin Inspiration

Austin Inspiration

I will be the first to admit that in all of my years of swimming at Barton Springs, I never took a good look at Philosopher’s Rock until recently. I’ve absentmindedly passed by the statue more times than I can count on my fingers and toes, not once stopping to read the inscription on the stones around it. The sculpture has always been at the entrance of the pool, a constant during visits with my family when I was younger, with hometown friends during college visits years ago, and with several of my friends and roommates in the recent summer months. I always assumed that the men portrayed by the statue were old Austin blue hairs who donated millions to Zilker Park. They were men who didn’t really hold any relevance
There, he would meet up with his friends Dobie and Webb to sit on the limestone slabs surrounding the spring and take dips in the cool water, the three Austin celebrities of their time. Although all three friends have long since passed away, their friendship and love of Barton Springs lives on every single day as they watch over the entryway to the pool. As I turned away from the scene and began the walk back to my car, I took one last look at Philosopher’s Rock as I checked over my notes. The sun reflected on each of the three faces, still grinning in mid conversation. I noticed a soft slope and ledge at the front of the sculpture, an open space around the rock. The openness of the spot struck me. Why was it there? Maybe the artist didn’t want to clutter the sculpture. Maybe she carefully designed the spot to be the perfect foothold for scaling the statue (as I had seen earlier during the game of tag). Or maybe the empty space was meant to be a seat for someone else, an invitation to all who passed to sit and enjoy the beauty of the springs and the friendships of those around them like Dobie, Bedichek, and Webb did throughout their