

For most Americans, everyday consists of constant struggles varying from work related issues, to relationship based problems, to even environmental concerns. Everyone struggles, everyone worries, and everyone has their to-do list that they believe is longer than the person’s next to them. The truth is that no one knows exactly what someone else is going through and due to that lack of knowledge, we tend to make decisions that can be seen as ethically incorrect. An individual is defined by how they handle personal choices and decisions that will impact the lives of others. By looking at David Foster Wallace’s “This is Water”, one can see how the author portrays individuality as a stepping stone for moral decision making, which is important because individual decisions affect one’s community as much as they affect the individual. 

In our generation, it seems that individuals progress towards egocentric values and self-centered values. They are always busy trying to accomplish one thing and complete another and by doing so, they are missing out on society’s truest aspects which revolve around human interaction. The author goes into depth on why individuals need to actually see the society around them by recommending people experience life each week, each day, each moment at a time. He then suggests that he too understands the frequent exhaustion of life’s to-do list, but still insists each individual consider other’s lives in the same, if not worse, situations than their own. What are they going through? Do they have food to eat for dinner or a place to sleep tonight? These questions may be brought to certain extremes, but the truth of it all is that one never truly knows what others are going through. Foster Wallace suggests that individuals have the decency to consider other’s situations before considering their own. Understandably, this can be an extremely difficult concept to grasp and it is known that in life one will often fail and one will often succeed; however, repetition leads to higher success rates, meaning the more times one tries to improve their morals, the higher success rate they will have of trying to put others first.

In his speech, Foster Wallace references how religion affects what individuals choose to worship and how what individuals choose to worship affects their moral decisions. His belief is that everyone worships, no matter their religion or lack of. He proposes the idea if one worships money and materialistic things, they will never feel satisfied. Life isn’t about the tangible items one possesses, but about the relationships they make and lessons they learn along the way. The author supports the lesson of putting others before oneself. He recommends individuals build relationships with one another, even with those who one typically wouldn’t relate with. He is not indicating someone marry a person they just met, but more so directing that individual to smile at the elderly man who is walking at snail’s pace in the frozen section or to let the frantic mother skip to the front of the checkout line in the department store. These scenarios happen daily, but humans tend to get so caught up in themselves that they ignore the signs and connections they could make around them. Foster Wallace states the following quote pertaining to worship: “The only thing that's capital- T True is that you get to decide how you're going to try to see it. You get to consciously decide what has meaning and what doesn't. You get to decide what to worship” (Foster Wallace XV). He clearly emphasizes the pronoun you to show that each individual has the power to make their own decisions. When individuals are wise to worship, they make logical decisions that will positively impact their societal interactions.

Foster Wallace suggests everything that makes up an individual impacts their moral decision-making process. Topics that have been mentioned already that contribute to the make-up of the individual are their ideas towards worship, their awareness of society, and their outlook on life and personal interactions. The author uses these subgroups and the following quote to outline his idea that individuals are blind to reality. “It is about simple awareness-awareness of what is so real and essential, so hidden in plain sight all around us, that we have to keep reminding ourselves, over and over: "This is water, this is water” (XVII). This line is so powerful because it reveals the insensitivity individuals are demonstrating when progressing through their personal lives, completely disregarding society. When juggling jobs, working on family relations, or building personal connections, everything can be difficult to manage and the author realizes that. However, he suggests that at some point during the day, try to go beyond personal struggles and realize what others are going through. When one is aware of those individuals that make up society and contribute to the present environment, they are practicing the positive moral decision-making process that the author encourages.

Foster Wallace asks that each individual focuses on putting someone else’s needs above their own and one can practice this with simple acts of kindness. These acts can go a long way, especially when someone is feeling overwhelmed or stressed from their daily struggles. Theories have shown that simple acts such as holding the door open for a stranger, giving someone a hug, or simply smiling at an individual can improve their day and even provide them with a sense of belonging or worth. One’s decision to take a moral stand and reflect on their life second will lead to positive outcomes in the lives of those put first. The decision is always up to the individual and how that individual acts with those interpersonal relationships will lead to the domino effect, impacting society as a whole.
