Some may say that your future is determined by fate. Others may say your future is determined by your past. However, not many people think about how your choices now can determine your future. “This is Water” by David Foster Wallace is a commencement speech to college students going into the real world. Nonetheless, this is not a normal commencement speech. Wallace gets you thinking about your life and the way you act. He is very blunt with the audience about how one feels in the real world as an adult. Wallace explains things that everyone is thinking, but no one wants to say, such as “A huge percentage of the stuff that I tend to be automatically certain of is, it turns out, totally wrong and deluded.”(XII). We all lie and we all exaggerate things but no one will admit it, which is what he is trying to say. He also explains how selfish and self-centered humans are because that is our default-setting. Your world revolves around you with everyone else around and getting in the way. Everyone thinks that they are always right, so in order to fix this you must alter or free yourself. “This is Water” teaches you how to change yourself and why you should. The overall meaning of the text “This is Water” is explained as learning how to think, choosing how to live your life, and understanding what is right in front of you.

First, in order to change the way you are thinking, you must learn how to think. Wallace asks an important question, “How much of this work of adjusting our default-setting involves actual knowledge or intellect?”(XIII). You do not have to be a genius to know how your brain works, and just because you are smart, that does not make you benevolent. Your mind will do what you want it to do, but it may not lead you in the right direction all of the time. One must learn how to be in control so you do not end up being a “slave to your head”(XIII). Many people who let their brains control them end up living an almost “lifeless” life. He states, “It is not the least bit coincidental that adults who commit suicide with firearms almost always shoot themselves in the head. And the truth is that most of these suicides are actually dead long before they pull the trigger”(XIII). This is why you need to learn how to think because you need to be able to control your mind and learn how to comprehend. You have to make conscious decisions about how to think and what to pay attention to.

Next, once you learn how to think, you choose how you want to live. Because of this evil natural-default setting that we all are programmed with, you have two options for ways of thinking; hating the world, which is easy and automatic, or being understanding, considerate, and kind towards others. Wallace suggests the second option in order to live the best life, even though, “it takes will and mental effort, and…some days you won’t be able to do it”(XV). It is also your choice to decide what has meaning and what does not. You make decisions in your mind about what the message of something is, or if it has a message at all. Others may influence you, but you make the ultimate decision. However, Wallace explains that the only decision you cannot make, is if you idolize a God or not. He says “There is no such thing as not worshipping... Everybody worships. The only choice we get is what to worship”. This is a part of your default settings, so you must not lie to yourself and give in. If you try and alter the choices you make, you will apprehend what was always there.

Lastly, everything you need to know is right in front of you. Your default-setting has you overthinking and overanalyzing almost everything because it is the unconscious way our mind works. The best thing to do is think about “…simple awareness-awareness of what is so real and essential, so hidden in plain sight all around us…”(XVII). Wallace also explains how you need to not only understand what is right in front of you, but be understanding of what is right in front of you. You should not be judgmental towards things that you cannot control. Be considerate, be sympathetic, and be compassionate towards other because you do not know what is going on in their life. This will help your mental well-being improved tremendously. You will start looking on the brighter side of things and not being so negative, which is how we all were wired. Wallace also makes it clear that the world does not revolve around ourselves and to look at what is in front of you, because that is all you need to know is that “The capital-T Truth is about life before death”(XVII).

Wallace shows the audience life in a whole new perspective. This commencement speech really gets the audience looking into their own lives, thinking about how they can change the way they learn, think, and make decisions. Ultimately, you decide how you want to live your life. You make all of the decisions and you can decide how you want to think and treat others. If you want to be a selfish martyr, then you will basically be dead before you even die. To live the best life possible, to be understanding of everything around you.
