




      The term default-settings is usually associated with computer programming. It means to have a certain start point that a programmer can add to in order to get the desired outcome and it also means to be able to go back to a known point or the original configuration if a mistake is made while programing.  In the context that David Wallace uses the term default-setting it is the “returning to natural values instead of learned values”. Take a moment to realize the world does not revolve around you, the individual.

     The first description he uses for default-setting is to explain how a human being from birth believes that they are the “absolute center of the universe”.  (xi) For example most people have heard a baby crying. The baby cries in order to get the attention of its mother for which there are variety of reasons but the point is to get attention.  The baby’s goal is to activate the default setting entrenched deep in his DNA, get attention and care now.  It does not matter to that baby if he is disturbing and individual or a whole congregation at church on a Sunday morning.  That baby could care less if people are on a long flight, packed into the tight confines of the cheap seats or causing a panic attack to an individual who can’t stand the constant whining and crying.  That baby’s default setting, his instinct for survival has kicked in and is demanding response to the glitch in his system. It is ingrained into almost all mammals but especially humans that we as an individual come first.   Wallace is trying to convey a message to this student body that as they continue to learn that they now have the opportunity to choose what they think about instead of thinking they are first and change their default settings and understand why a crying baby on a flight is ruining your day. 

     Wallace notes that people that are able to adjust or turn off their own self-centered default-settings are described as “well adjusted”. (x).  He is referencing a liberal-arts cliché “teaching you how to think” vs “learning how to think”, implying that now that you have gained knowledge and experience you can actually feel a little empathy for the parents with the crying baby.  He suggests that instead of being mentally confined to negative thoughts because of a baby crying, he suggests thinking about something that you find passion in and focus on that instead and possibly create an appreciation for people going through the many challenges of life with you.  Wallace articulates his point by describing the frustrations of sitting in traffic or waiting in a long line at a grocery store where everywhere he looks he sees unhappy people trying to curb the self-serving default-settings of “me first”. Instead of glaring at people in the “ten items or less” grocery store checkout lane who clearly have double the amount of groceries and are purposely delaying your busy schedule do this as an alternative way of thinking.  He states that “if I'm in a more socially conscious form of my default-setting” (xv) that he will think about negative effects that big trucks have on the environment by wasting fuel and causing global warming which will have an impact on the future of earth.  During the commencement speech he bring up a situation that most people are familiar with, a baby crying, a mother scolding her child, a person talking on their cell phone in line, everyday irritations that can affect your psyche because they are annoying and get under your skin and diminish your happiness.  Instead think about the possible reasons that you don’t know about that are causing these annoying acts to play out around you.  Maybe the child is crying because he is sick or perhaps the person on the phone has an emergency.  

     An example that I can associate with my own default settings is driving through campus on my way to an appointment and as the light turns green there are still dozens of students using the crosswalk even though the sign says no crossing.  My default settings are that the light turned green for me.  It is my turn to drive through after waiting patiently for the light to turn so I can proceed to my next appointment.  These students on the other hand have enabled their own default settings to get to the next class on time and have no concern as to how they are affecting my plans or hampering my travel arrangements.  But I am also a student and have been under the same pressure to walk across campus and arrive on time for class, I am able to consider that they are in fact running late and need the few extra seconds to get to the other side of the street.

     Jon Green wrote a blog that said that “Wallace wants us to catch ourselves the moment we feel that twinge of seeping frustration, the physical sensation that the universe is out to get us and make the conscious decision to accept it for what it is” (Green), “life BEFORE death.” (xvi)

    I think Wallace’s message is clear.  Sometimes you have to go beyond your own, selfish, default-settings and realize that the baby isn’t crying just to irritate you.  These are just the facts of life and whether you like it or not no one has been put on this earth to cater just to you or to be a hindrance on the path of life.  But now with your learned knowledge and experiences you can find joy in life without getting bogged down with thoughts of unfairness and things that you can’t change.  “If you've really learned how to think, how to pay attention, then you will know you have other options. It will actually be within your power to experience a crowded, loud, slow, consumer-hell-type situation as not only meaningful but sacred, on ﬁre with the same force that lit the stars — compassion, love, the sub-surface unity of all things.” (Foster xv)



