Everyone lives in this world through his or her own eyes. There is no exception to this; we all live this way and have been living this way our entire life. Even parents. Sure, her children may her entire world to a mother but even then, the mother lives in this world through her eyes, wondering what she can do to give her children a wonderful life. The question comes down to whether we are being selfish by only living through our own eyes or if that is simply just innocent means of stability and reliance. There is a defined line between self-centeredness and self-reliance, and this line is evident through the comparison of David Foster Wallace's "This is Water" and Ralph Waldo Emerson's "Self-Reliance." 

As David Foster Wallace stated, "Think about it. There is no experience you've had that you were not at the absolute center of," (xiii). Whether we like to admit or not, this is true. Starting from the very moment we wake up in the morning, every thought erupting in our heads is revolved around ourselves. It does not seem that even for the humblest of people this can be accurate, but we do not have to be vicious to be self-centered. Everyone is self-centered. In "This is Water," Wallace refers to situations many of us often encounter on a daily basis, such as simple traffic. We get annoyed because a large SUV is in our way of making a turn. Such an inoperative action could easily be the spark of a terrible day for us. Why? Because we only see this as intentional towards ourselves. The driver of the SUV purposely wanted to block us from turning, knowing we were already late for work, knowing we would get in trouble with our boss, knowing we would be fired, knowing our lives would end up miserable. But do they really know, or is this dramatic assumption based on the fact that we can only see our motives, not thinking for a second about the fact that the driver of the SUV has been in a "horrible auto accident in the past and now find driving so traumatic that their therapist has all but ordered them to get a huge, heavy SUV so they can feel safe enough to drive," therefore not realizing the rear of their car is blocking the turning lane (xv). We do not intend to revolve the world's circumstances around ourselves, but it happens to be a natural instinct we received at birth. The problem that Wallace finds with this sense of self-centeredness we have become accustomed to is that it builds continuously over time, and when we, young adults, eventually become a part of adulthood, we have no sense of what "day in, day out" is truly all about (xiv). We are not going to understand that even though we may not be happy with our own lives and our own routines, the rest of the world neither sees that nor wants to see that. Everyone else is too concerned with whether or not they are happy with their routines. This may not seem like much of an issue because when we are not happy with something in our lives, we change it, but by this point, even though the eyes we are living through may see the great possibilities of what change can lead to, there is an overpowering sight our eyes tend to focus on, and that is the fear and laziness of making change. This entire idea of the way many people live their life is depressing, but it is simply composed of assumptions. Wallace's "This is Water" should teach us nothing more but to allow sight through the situations of others, which can lead to the break of routine and unhappiness that very often is described to come with adulthood. 

In "Self-Reliance," Emerson takes an approach of the one's self in a more positive way than Wallace does. Both understand that our own eyes has and will continue to be the only way we see this world, but while Wallace believes we should attempt to pick up the sight of others, Emerson encourages us to take our own sight and build upon it and improve from there. We are given what we are given for a reason, and we should accept them and introduce them to the universe around us rather than assuming every negative occurrence in life is targeted at us individually. There is no purpose in brainstorming the ways we are being "targeted." Like Emerson believes, "There is a time in every man's education where he arrives at the conviction that he must take himself for better, for worse, as his portion The power which resides in him is new in nature, and none but he knows what that is which he can do, nor does he know until he has tried," (439). Our eyes of which we see this world through should not lead us in the direction of negativity being poured on us intentionally. That is self-centered. Instead, we should use the vision we have of this world to realize that what we have to offer is nothing like what anybody else does. The world has not yet experienced our proposal until we provide it. We must not be so quick to assume that doing so will result in catastrophe. We need to break the routine we hate so much. This is self-reliance. This is believing that we, and only we, have the power to provide ourselves with true fulfillment and happiness. "Man is his own star; and the soul that can render an honest and a perfect man, commands all light, all influence, all fate; nothing to him falls early or too late," (438). 

"This is Water" can definitely be seen as a more discouraging idea of what the future holds for us than "Self-Reliance." Although, Wallace's interpretation of how we see the world is not untrue. There will always be that sense of self-centeredness, but we can take this idea with such a negative connotation and turn it into self-reliance. Although "This is Water" does take the more negative approach on life, there are elements of the work that can help us young adults as we are working our way into life. Wallace is basically warning us of the changes we can make now to prevent putting ourselves in the situations his speech describes This warning along with Emerson's encouragement is enough to change our mindset and make us realize the importance of the vision we have been given and where we can go with it. The way Wallace addresses his audience, by referring to them as, "graduating seniors," put us readers into the position of the audience, giving us an early idea of what we can change in our lives to improve our futures. In order to do so, we must also apply Emerson's lesson of relying on ourselves and what we have been given, in order to do so. "Trust thyself: every heart vibrates to that iron string. Accept the place the divine providence has found for you, the society of your contemporaries, the connection of events And now we are men not cowards fleeing before a revolution," (439). 

