As a man, David Foster Wallace had it all figured out, or so it seemed. He knew that going through life constantly stressing about small situations was not the way to go about it, and he was right. But he what he thought should be done is considering what others have gone through, which is what I believe to be the wrong thing. As a man that seemed to have it all figured out nobody expected the tragic act of suicide carried out by him. The fact that he truly did not have it all figured out and was not happy in his life lead me to the idea that people are in their default settings for a reason. A person has the default setting of always putting themselves first because that is what makes them happy. As David Foster Wallace ended his speech, he said to the graduates 

It is unimaginably hard to do this, to stay conscious and alive in the adult world day in and day out. Which means yet another grand cliché turns out to be true: your education really IS the job of a lifetime. And it commences: now.

I wish you way more than luck.

This could be seen as just a way of hoping the students the best, but I see it as a reflection of the struggles that David Foster Wallace has gone through in his life. The fact that he directly says that “it is unimaginably hard to do this, to stay conscious and alive in the adult world day in and day out” shows the he has struggled with it himself. Another thing he says to the graduates that shows the difficulty of living this way is “I wish you way more than luck.” David Foster Wallace ends his speech here because that is something that really makes the listener think. It is just another way of showing that life as an adult truly is something people struggle with besides directly saying it is difficult. The reason that life as an adult and breaking the default settings that David Foster Wallace speaks of is because we aren’t meant to.

 Selfish people live happier lives than those who are not. If you are a selfish person, you take care of yourself and worry about yourself first. That is what a human is meant to do. However, as it is more respectable to be a selfless person who looks after others before themselves, makes it what people strive for, but not what makes them happy. The theory of psychological egoism states that people will act in ways that are best for them, and when they do not do that, they are breaking away from the norm. That is the default setting that David Foster Wallace speaks of throughout his speech. Philosophers have shown that people search for pleasures in life. Each person’s life and how successful it is can be based off of how happy they were in their own opinion. It does not matter to a person whether they were a famous actor or somebody who cut grass for a living, if the man who cuts grass for a living finds more pleasure in that than the actor does in acting, they have lived a better life as far as they are concerned. 

This is all why people should stick in their default setting unlike David Foster Wallace was telling the graduates. In life if you do not do what you want to and do what makes you happy then you will struggle finding that happiness somewhere else. While I say that people should stick to their default settings and live a selfish lifestyle, I mean it in a very moderate manner. Putting yourself first and making sure you have things that you need to ensure your happiness would still allow you to help others and be an overall kind person.

In the end, if a person lives a selfish lifestyle, it allows them to live a happier life. David Foster Wallace’s life was difficult due to the viewpoint that he had on breaking the psychological egoism that humans have. Sticking to the theory of psychological egoism allows a human to live a happier life because they take the actions that are best for them which ensures their happiness before they seek to fulfill others’ happiness. Breaking the norm and always put others first will cause not help you deal with the daily routine and struggles of adult life that Wallace speaks of, it will lower the value of your feelings for the important of somebody else’s which will overall have a negative impact on your complete happiness.