In David Foster Wallace’s story, “This Is Water,” Wallace elucidates the concept of intellectual freedom and imagining everyday life in someone else’s shoes. Wallace claims, ““learning how to think”” really means learning how to exercise some control over how and what you think” (3). The pursuit of power, beauty, intellect, and money are constantly desired, preventing people to live consciously in present time, or in this case, water, as Wallace explicates. By being able to imagine the thoughts and actions of those around us, Wallace explains that this can lead people to being “well adjusted” (2), and this can help stray away from the internal self-centeredness that people bear day-to-day.

To start, Wallace describes how everyone deep down has a “default-setting, hard-wired into our boards at birth,” (2) in which people see life as it revolves around them. People are always the center of their own experiences, forming opinions on every situation through their own observations and consequences. This selfishness is so compelling at times, that people limit themselves to see what is right in front of their eyes. Just like the fish in the beginning of Wallace’s story, the fish swim in water all their lives, yet still do not understand the concept of water or “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”” (8). When the older fish asked the younger fish how the water was, the younger fish did not understand what water even was. The hardest things to see or contextualize can be right in front of one’s face. People always have something on their minds, aiding in the blurred face of reality. While walking from class to class, I have a tendency to space out, and although I feel as though I am paying attention to all that is around me, a friend could wave and say ‘hi’ and I senselessly ignore them. This is not an intention of mine, of course, but just proves that my “default-setting” limits me from considering what is right in plain sight. While everyone has this natural default-setting, everyone also faces day-to-day troubles that are unnoticed by whoever is around. Due to people thinking of their own daily priorities and needs first, negative thinking becomes an automatic and easy way to power through life. Wallace mentions, “I can dwell on the fact that the patriotic or religious bumper stickers always seem to be on the biggest, most disgustingly selfish vehicles driven by the ugliest, most inconsiderate and aggressive drivers, who are usually talking on cell phones as they cut people off in order to get just twenty stupid feet ahead in a traffic jams” (5). By acknowledging his unconscious belief that his priorities and feelings should come before anyone else’s, he rethinks the possible intentions and behaviors of those nearby. Paraphrasing Wallace, that crazy driver that is cutting in and out of cars could be the father of a child who is hurt and in a rush to get to get to the hospital. Wallace inspects, “he’s in a way bigger, more legitimate hurry than I am –– it is actually I who am in his way” (6). This notion begs people to think about others more considerately and patiently, while helping to push away the default-setting that every person falls back on because it seems like the easy way to live life.

Although Wallace explains how challenging it is to force self-centeredness away, once one discovers how to pay attention to other’s emotions and opinions, it gets easier to acquire a more positive attitude in unpleasant situations. Wallace contends, “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…” (6). The word “worship” is continually used when Wallace portrays that although everyone worships something, everyone has their own choice on what to worship. Worshipping does not just refer to a spiritual god, but to anything that one finds passion in. Such passion may not always be an encouraging belief though. Many people unconsciously desire materialistic demands of power, beauty, intelligence, and money, forgetting what is actually important to cherish, such as family, feelings, awareness, etc. Wallace confesses, “worship your own body and beauty and sexual allure and you will always feel ugly, and when time and age start showing, you will die a million deaths before they finally plant you” (7). He is capturing the view that if one focuses too much on what they are not, such as admiring beautiful people with perfect hair or perfect bodies, they are missing out on life. They are missing out on love that they should have for their self. This is not living in the moment, but living in a dream. Instead, Wallace emphasizes that people need to aim for a better way of thinking, one that opens up the gates of one’s eyes and allows them to enter through while seeing the world as it should be seen: in the present with awareness and compassion for others instead of oneself. This comprehensible switch in the way people think could help bring recognition of what is happening right in front of one’s eyes each day.

In Wallace’s “This Is Water,” he proposes the idea that people have to see alternatives to what people perceive, such as the crazy driver scenario. By constantly focusing on what is happening in one owns’ world and relating everything happening to that feeling or emotion, one passes up the beauty of the world that is right in front of their eyes. Wallace realizes that escaping one’s natural default-setting is very difficult, however emphasizes and supports the concept “to stay conscious and alive, day in and day out” (8). This helps concentrate better on positivity, even when having a long and rough day. Maybe this way, the fish will have a better knowledge of what water really is, and people will be more intellectual in what drives others actions and sentiments.
