
The main theme of David Foster Wallace’s this is water is to choose to perceive certain day to day nuisances a different way, not to think of ourselves as the center of the universe, and to try to put ourselves in other people’s shoes and have empathy for them. One of the first elements that Foster talks about in this speech is a blind certainty and a close mindedness to anyone else’s beliefs. This helps to develop the theme because refusing to listen to anyone else’s ideas is a symptom of thinking of yourself as the center of the universe. Having a blind certainty of what is happening in the world makes it impossible consider someone else’s situation and the reasons why they might be doing certain things. If you find yourself in a situation where someone does something that irritates or even enrages you and you are too closeminded to consider why they may have done it you will never be able to perceive that situation with empathy for that person. Open-mindedness is imperative for choosing to perceive irritating situations with empathy and the realization that others’ lives are just as important as our own.

Foster illustrates the problem of blind certainty and closemindedness with multiple small stories. The first story he uses is the story of the atheist and the religious man. The atheist is so certain in his belief of the nonexistence of God that he refuses to accept even the slightest possibility that his life being saved by Eskimos could have had something to do with his prayer. The religious man is plagued by the same dogmatic thinking as the Atheist. He is so absolutely convinced of his belief in God that he cannot even fathom that the lifesaving event could just be a coincidence. Wallace also uses SUV example, if you have a blind certainty that all people that drive SUVs are inconsiderate, aggressive drivers that don’t care about the environment than you are choosing to perceive this situation in a closeminded way. Wallace urges readers to make a conscious choice to consider all possibilities “such as a driver with PTSD from a horrific car crash and needs a heavy SUV to be able to drive without an anxiety attack” as Wallace explains in the text.

The elements of blind certainty and closemindedness contribute to the text not only by explaining why they are detrimental to perceiving situations with empathy, but also by explaining why their antonyms, open-mindedness and a guided certainty that considers all possibilities are so important to realizing that you are not the center of the universe. It takes an open mind to consider the possibility that other people problems may be much more important than your own. As Wallace explains, its hard, these attributes are not always easy to live by especially when you are put in a compromising situation by somebody else.

The second element in this speech is self-centeredness and our natural default setting. This helps to develop the theme by explaining that self-centeredness is hardwired into us at birth and that we have to make a conscious choice to adjust our “natural default setting” as Wallace calls it. Adjusting our natural default setting is done by choosing what we pay attention to and choosing what it means to us. Our natural default setting makes the needs of other oblivious to us because we are so focused on ourselves. Our natural default setting is to think of anyone or anything that gets in the way of one of our needs as a nuisance not considering their needs or that they are going through many of the same exact things that we are. A small personal need can overwhelm your thinking and make you dismiss or even get angry at the needs of others showing absolutely no empathy for their situation.

Wallace illustrates the elements of self-centeredness and our natural default setting by using the example of waiting in line at the grocery store when you’re tired, hungry and all you want to do is get home, eat, and get some rest. Our natural setting is to scream inside our heads at the lady at checkout to control her kid not considering she may be a single mom who works a full time job that pays less than yours. Or to get annoyed with the lady working the register not even considering that she works an even duller more repetitive job than you and has the same exact needs and wants. This self- centeredness prevents you from considering any possibilities where someone else’s needs are more important than your own

The elements of self-centeredness and our natural default setting contribute to the main point of this text by showing us how we think and why we think like that. We don’t make an active choice to disregard everyone else’s needs and only focus on our own, it’s our natural setting. Most people don’t even notice that they think that way unless they really take a step back and examine their thinking. Self-centeredness on the other hand is the reason for this way of thinking. We do not take into account other people needs because we are only focused on our own. In order to perceive irritating situations in a different light and have empathy for others we must adjust our natural default setting and make an effort to not only think of ourselves.

The third element in this text is the act of choosing how to think and choosing what our experiences mean to us. The element of choice is an important part of the theme and comes up in all other elements of the text. This is the act of making a conscious choice to have an open mind and consider all possibilities in a situation while having empathy for others. The act of choosing to perceive an otherwise irritating situation in a positive light. The act of choosing to adjust our natural default setting and to realize and be considerate of the needs of others. Choice is an imperative part of this text and the theme could not be developed without it.

The element of choice is illustrated in all three of the short stories that Wallace tells. In the story of the atheist and the religious man both men could have made the choice to be open-minded and consider the possibilities of each other’s beliefs. In the story of the man driving on the freeway getting cut off by an SUV the man could have chosen to consider the possibility that the driver of the SUV could have been driving his son to the hospital. And in the story of the man waiting in the checkout line at the grocery store the man could have chosen to have empathy for the overworked checkout clerk. In all three of these examples there was an opportunity to perceive each situation in multiple ways and it is up to you how you choose to perceive it.

The element of choice contributes to this text by being the tool which we use to adjust our natural default settings and perceive situations considering all possibilities. Choice is the tool we use to determine what has meaning to us and what dose not. Choice is what we use to decide what we worship and what in life we get meaning out of. The act of choosing is what this text is all about, every day we face hundreds of situations and it is our choice how we perceive them. Whether it be choosing to have empathy for the night shift worker who gets your order wrong or to resort to our default setting and curse him out in our heads, it is our choice.