Through telling his speech, David Foster Wallace tried to communicate to the 2005 graduating class of Kenyon College that it is a rough road ahead. It will certainly not be generally fun, and it will be fairly boring. For the majority of workers, the daily routine is to wake up, work for the day, drive him during rush hour, make yourself dinner, go to sleep, and do it all again for the days to come until retirement. Summing up life in a depressingly realistic way, Wallace takes the opportunity to essentially tell the graduates that now that you know what life is, it is your job to make the most of it. To show the consequences of not taking life for what it is, and enjoying it, David Foster Wallace employs overly dramatized examples of everyday adult life to demonstrate that life can pass you by.

Wallace tells the story of an atheist and a religious man arguing about the subject of religion, where an atheist says he had been lost in a blizzard so he prayed to God to save him. Soon after he did so, some Eskimos wandered in his direction and guided him back to camp. The atheist believes that the Eskimos would have intercepted his course regardless of his prayers, as they had already decided on their route beforehand, while the religious man believes God intervened and sent those Eskimos toward the man in need. Of course, neither argument can be proven correct, because there is no telling whether or not a higher power compelled these Eskimos to head in that direction. The  clear general message is that one experience can mean different things to different people. Wallace argues that neither atheists nor religious folk acknowledge this fact. Instead, both sides act with such, “blind certainty” that they won’t even consider the arguments of their opposition. Many people within these two opposing groups are so closeminded in their understanding of the concept of God that they are essentially creating their own mental prison that they themselves aren’t even aware of. While they live their lives rejecting all ideas other than their own, they are failing to experience life for what it truly is: a blend of different ideas from different places, with different people. If you are not open to new ideas, then it is probable that you will not want to spend time with the people who had these ideas, and in doing so, you also reject travelling to these new places.

David Foster Wallace continues to argue that although we should avoid being closedminded, and instead try to immerse ourselves in as many different ideas and cultures as possible, it is impossible to be selfless. He says, “The world as you experience it is there in front of YOU or behind YOU, to the left or right of YOU, on YOUR TV, or YOUR monitor.” we all feel as though we are the center of the universe, because after all, life is happening to ourselves. The fact is, no matter how selfless you convince yourself to be, or how selfless you genuinely are, you remain inherently selfish. It is a form of survival instinct, you take care of yourself before others. One could even argue that there is no such thing as a selfless act. You either perform a “selfless” act because it makes you feel accomplished and kind, or because you believe in Heaven, and to enter Heaven you must perform selfless acts. The truth is, no matter what kind act you do, you are still rewarded for it, which begs the question: is there really such a thing as a completely selfless act? Regardless, Wallace’s point is that despite our inherent selfishness, we should try to be as selfless as possible because if not, we’re just adding to the negativity in the world, thus affecting everyone’s ability to live life to the fullest. To demonstrate this point, Foster Wallace tells the story of a normal day for a “9-5” worker. 

When telling the story of something that seems trivial, Wallace exaggerates to make it seem like  it is the end of the world. He makes the commute from work seem more disastrous than it is in reality, and he makes a bad attitude towards a worker seem like a crisis of disrespect between two  volatile nations. The purpose of this exaggeration is to stress what falling into a “rut” can do to a person. When we do the same exact thing every day of our lives it can make us bitter towards people who don’t deserve it, they’re probably enduring the same crucible that is exhausted repetition. When we think we know what’s going to happen every single day, we overlook subtle beauties that make life worth living. Consequentially, falling into these “ruts” can prevent you from living life to the fullest.

In conclusion, we all must learn to be aware of our everyday surroundings, and take advantage of such awareness by using it to be happy and make others feel the same. We need to realize what life throws at us: pain, suffering, and probably the most frequent form of suffering, boredom. If we realize that that is “water” then we can accept it, and proceed to adapt and enjoy life anyway. In order to properly adapt, we must first learn to appreciate absolutely every good thing in our lives, especially the small stuff because the small stuff shows that there is good in every single day. Secondly, recognize that falling into too much of a routine is death; not death of the body, but the soul. John Lennon once said, “Life is what happens to you while you’re busy making other plans.” If you are constantly doing the same thing every day, those are the “other plans” you are making, and before you know it life has already happened to you and you didn’t get the chance to enjoy it.  When a routine is your whole life and you don’t leave anything up to chance, you suck the life out of life. After all, it is the unknown and the unexpected that makes us happy. When we overuse things, we get bored with it and crave something new, whether it be a new game, school, or even something as trivial as a television. In order to avoid a routine of mingling with the same people, going to the same places, and eating the same foods, simply go to new places, talk to different people, experience new cultures, and essentially expand your horizons. The key to enjoying life is acknowledging the negative parts of it, appreciating the smaller satisfactions you experience every day, and trying new things to ensure that even the everyday satisfactions don’t start to become just another thing to be bored of.