
“This is water “by David Wallace is an extremely thought provoking commencement speech which asks us to review our personal perception of the world we live in. He claims that with effort we can escape the self-prioritized state of mind that renders us susceptible to living an unfulfilled life and become more conscious and aware of the bigger picture.

We humans instinctually put ourselves first, fixated on personal gain and struggle. We tend to amplify the seriousness of the problems we face and downplay the problems of others. Wallace refers to this as the “default setting”. This setting comes naturally, unconsciously affecting the decisions we make and how we react and perceive events that occur in everyday life. “There is no experience you've had that you were not at the absolute center of. The world as you experience it is right there in front of you, or behind you, to the left or right of you, on your TV, or your monitor, or whatever. Other people's thoughts and feelings have to be communicated to you somehow, but your own are so immediate, urgent, real” (Wallace, xiii) We see the world from an extremely biased angle, making it much too easy to simply concern ourselves with the problems we face directly. These problems may be insignificant but we tend to put more emphasis than deserved simply because of the deeply rooted selfishness which can be found in all people. 

This way of thinking is crippling, leading many to sad and unsatisfying lives. “My natural default-setting is the certainty that situations like this are really all about me, about my hungriness and my fatigue and my desire to just get home, and it's going to seem, for all the world, like everybody else is just in my way”(Wallace xii) We are certainly not the center of the universe and if we believe that we are entitled to some kind of special treatment, as if the issues occurring in our personal lives trump the issues of others, we are sure to be left disappointed and frustrated. The way we analyze situations, big or small, that occur throughout our daily existence plays a major role in how we respond physically and react emotionally. It’s quite easy to see most day to day scenarios in a negative light, to point out flaws, and criticize based on the fact that these situations aren’t always tailored to fit our needs at our convenience. It generally requires much more thought and insight to look at a situation which has been deemed negative by self and or society and draw positive conclusions. The positivity may not directly touch us first hand, yet being able to understand that someone or something is positively impacted makes it much easier to deal with life and its many difficulties and inconveniences. 

 Awareness is a crucial step in growing out of our default setting. “…they happen to meet an older fish swimming the other way, who nods at them and says “Morning, boys. How’s the water?” And the two young fish swim on for a bit, and then eventually one of them looks over at the other and goes “What the hell is water?”” (Wallace, x) If we are not aware of how and why we think the way we do, there is no chance of reshaping our thought process. Life is hectic and full of unimportant filler that deludes and impairs our judgement which can lead us astray and towards a false sense of awareness. Blinded by self-assurance, we are completely oblivious too important and seemingly obvious truths. We very closely resemble the young fish, who aren’t even aware of fundamental property which keeps them alive.  This ignorance can prove to be devastating, hindering the ability to escape the default setting, thus destroying the possibility of growing and becoming a more well-rounded and aware person

Maybe you've heard about the guy whose life goal was to climb a certain mountain. When he finally reached the top, he was terribly disappointed. There was nowhere else for him to go, and something was still missing in his life. Most look for this sense of fulfillment in the wrong place, often drawn towards materialistic gains as a way of showing success and accomplishment. Our society has lead us in the wrong direction, preaching and idolizing all the wrong things, drawing many to conclude they’ve lived a prosperous life, when I reality they’ve accomplished nothing.  Life isn’t about how much money you have or how respected you are. It is about positively impacting the lives of others, even when its most inconvenient. It’s about doing the right thing even when no one is looking. Now Wallace didn’t write this speech with the intention of teaching us about morals but they go a long way. Living a life in which we are not completely focused on ourselves is a sure fire way of being content at the end of our journey.  This comes with ease when we shy away from our hardwired default setting, shunning the closed minded selfishness that retrains countless people from living an enjoyable and satisfying life 