David Foster Wallace delivered a commencement speech to the Kenyon College graduating class of 2005 focusing on self-awareness and the true meaning of education. Wallace brings to light the undeniable certainties of adult life to show students that life isn't so effortless. In this piece, Wallace uses metaphors and relatable anecdotes to prove to his audience that the world is solely self-centered but that there is hope for change if society alters their thought process from what to think to how to think.

He begins with a metaphor describing an elder fish asking two younger fish swimming by "How's the water?" Moments later, one fish stops to question "What the hell is water?" (Wallace 1). The fish are a metaphor for human beings, the water the world, and no matter the fact, people are all living and breathing the same exact air; they see life through only their perspective. He calls this the "default setting." The world revolves exclusively around each individual. The point of this metaphor isn't truly clarified until his last lines. Wallace says, "It is about simple awareness -- awareness of 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" (Wallace 6). The part in this excerpt that stands out the most is the "awareness of what is so real and essential, so hidden in plain sight all around us" (Wallace 6). What Wallace is implying is that even though the most real and essential parts of life surround people everyday humans are still so oblivious to such plain and simple truths. They are too busy being occupied by their own little world and things that don't truly matter that noticing even the simple important things in life proves difficult for them.

Wallace continues on to a more relatable anecdote illustrating the "day in and day out" horrors of adult life. He describes a setting almost everyone is familiar with, the grocery store. Everyone knows how frustrating and tiresome grocery shopping can be especially during the "end-of-the-day-rush." He focuses more on the adult perspective, setting the young graduates up for what is to come. Wallace expresses this anecdote specifically from the point of view after a long day at the office, when the last thing a person wants to do is go into the, the way Wallace put it, fluorescently lit and overcrowded supermarket. Wallace then says that it doesn't have to be this way. He says that if people simply adjust the way they think, they could have a much more pleasant outlook on life and will experience "Life before Death," instead of "Life after Death," which is exactly what life is all about. Wallace explains that people can begin to see these normally terrible tasks as something even sacred. 

Wallace tells the audience to consider the fact that maybe the people in the supermarket are just as jaded and exhausted as the rest of them. Maybe the woman yelling at her son isn't always like this and is dealing with something far bigger and far worse than what people may think. He tells the audience that maybe the huge SUV that just cut them off has to take their wounded child to the emergency room. He describes all these different scenarios as a way for people to steer away from their default setting and contemplate whether these people they are so uninvolved with could be going through the exact same thing they are or even worse in some cases. This allows people to broaden their perspective and feel much more understanding and empathetic towards the outside world. Wallace implies that this will solve any lousy awful feelings toward everyday life. 

This speech was intended to be one of commencement, but some people have argued that Wallace did not do this successfully. In fact this is one of the most influential and inspirational commencement speeches ever given. David Foster Wallace's intent was to open the eyes of the young graduates who still have their whole lives ahead of them and to make sure they don't make the same mistakes most adults have, including him. He wants to help the students realize the importance of the opportunity to learn how to think and that this is the best education one can achieve. He gets his message across by using metaphors and relatable anecdotes to effectively   prepare these graduates for the future. This speech focuses on the truth, Wallace explains to these graduate students that it is going to be tough out in the "real world" instead of hiding the fears of adult life that most parents try to avoid as much as possible. He wants to provide these students with the necessary knowledge for them to be able move forward and encourage them to realize that there is hope, that they can still change their fate. If society just stays away from their "default setting" and focuses on being much more empathetic, great things are to come in terms of sanity and well being.

