




Throughout life we interact with people and we do not realize that were stuck on our default setting. After reading “This is Water” by David Foster Wallace the realization is that we go through life thinking for ourselves and we don’t consider the lives of others. We can’t truly know a person after seeing the way they dress or the mood they present on that given day. Most people have problems in their lives and others are just having a bad day. After close reading Wallace’s story, in order to make life more bearable the audience must consciously consider another person’s unfortunate circumstances before choosing to judge that same person. Therefore, take time out of the day in order to think about what is really important in life and give others the benefit of the doubt. 

As people go through their normal daily routine they become numb to certain aspects of life. People don’t become this way intentionally, but overtime they create a pattern that the body and mind become a custom to. For example, while waiting in a long line that is moving slowly in the grocery store, most people blame the cashier. Wallace states, “The frantic lady working the register, who is overworked at a job whose daily tedium and meaninglessness surpasses the imagination of any of us here at prestigious college.” (Wallace, XIV). Wallace creates a scenario where not only is the line long but the frustration towards the cashier is increasing. A cashier is only a cashier in the eyes of people who are either in college or have graduated. In other words, a cashier is less of a person than someone who has graduated from college. Most people believe a cashier isn’t a real job and if the line isn’t moving they are instantly blaming the worker. However, if someone with a college degree was at their desk job and they kept a client waiting on the phone, it would be an inconvenience to the person on the other line. That person who was waiting on the phone has now categorized the college graduate desk worker with the cashier that slowed down the grocery store line. Wallace wants his audience to realize that the person who may be at fault for slowing up someone’s day is just like anyone else. He wants us to consider there are more important things in life than to judge and criticize an innocent cashier. Therefore, Wallace wants his audience to make life more bearable by consciously thinking that the cashier is not at fault for holding up the line. He wants to create realistic scenarios so that every person is not looked upon based on their job or a specific bad day at work. 

A story can be told to two different people and be interpreted two different ways. Even though the story is the same, the two people reading the story will read it differently. The expression “Glass half full or glass half empty,” is a good example of how the mind works. Some people may see the glass half full and others will see the glass as half empty, this also applies to interpreting literature. For example, in Wallace’s story there is a story of two men, one is an atheist and the other is religious. The atheist was lost in a blizzard and asked God for help. Shortly after asking God for help two Eskimos found and rescued the atheist man. “Well then you must believe me now,” (Wallace, XI) says the religious man. “No man, all that was was a couple Eskimos happened to come wandering by and showed me the way back to camp.” (Wallace, XI). Wallace sheds light on both interpretations of the story through the religious and atheist men. A religious person may read this story and believe that God sent the Eskimos to save the atheist man. On the other hand, an atheist may think that the Eskimos are just passing by for no apparent reason. Moreover, people shouldn’t base their idea of this story due to their religious views. Wallace wants his audience to interpret the story in their own way and not give them a definitive answer. He wants his audience to be able to read this story and form their own opinion without being bias. This is how he wants us to consciously choose our train of thought while reading this story.

   With the amount of cars that are owned today traffic is inevitable and can cause a lot of tension on the road. After traffic breaks cars tend to go fast in order to make up for their lost time. This causes people to make aggressive moves and cut off one another. Wallace makes an interesting point by saying, “Or that Hummer that just cut me off is maybe being driven by a father whose little child is hurt or sick in the seat next to him, and he’s trying to get this kid to the hospital, and he’s in a bigger, more legitimate hurry than I am: it is actually I who am in HIS way.” (Wallace XV). Wallace puts an image in our heads that most people have never thought of after being cut off while driving. Most people will not give the driver who just cut them off the benefit of the doubt. The natural reaction is to beep or say something rude that the driver will never hear. Wallace’s point is that we need to consciously choose what to think about in order to make life more bearable, so he gives us examples like these. In order to think that the person that just cut someone off is in a rush for a legitimate reason such as having to go see their sick kid, is a way of consciously choosing what to think about. A choice that most people will not make because they become numb and mentally drained of kindness because they have had a long day, this is our default setting kicking in and taking over our minds. Therefore, we need to acknowledge the fact that the person who just cut off someone in traffic may be in distress. Most people will read this and their minds are so numb they won’t even give themselves the chance to make life more bearable. Everyone’s thought process is different and what one person chooses to think about will be different than the next person. Life is short and this will create a different view of the world and make every day easier. 

To consciously choose what we think about during different situations is hard for most people. Wallace wants his audience to step back from life and reevaluate the current situation and find our own individual meaning. Approach certain problems with a different mindset so that we can make life easier and make each day more bearable. Life may just pass by and some people may think back and wonder if they should have done things differently. In order to prevent this the audience needs to consciously choose what to think about in order to make daily life more bearable. Don’t become numb to society and go through life putting the blame on everyone else when in fact, it could be you causing a problem for another person. Take a back seat to life, and create a life that isn’t hard to fathom because everyone is running on their default setting. Realize that the world is filled with honesty and irony and everyone can choose their own thought process so that day to day life can become bearable. 



