Life And Work

     I read an article from a commencement speech given by David Foster Wallace. This speech showed how David viewed life. It was very interesting to read his different views and opinions. Most of the situations he wrote about was something I could relate to. Foster says that the most important realities are the ones that we tend to not see. It is not that we don't want to see reality, it is more that we cannot see reality. We are so used to the way we are living, that we are just not capable of seeing beyond our every day life.

     David Foster Wallace also says that every situation we have is based on ourselves. Meaning in our minds the world revolves around us. But everyone thinks the same thing, then who does the world actually revolve around? Davids idea is actually credible. We always put ourselves first. That is why we have so many disputes and problems in this world. In this essay he shows many examples of situations that show that we only think about ourselves.

     All humans are different. We were all created with different personalities and characteristics. Because of this, we all make different decisions. Some decisions are good and some are bad. I do think that we would make better decisions if we just opened our eyes. We can make better decisions if we actually took the time to think of how others feel and how others are thinking. We can make better decisions if we actually realized that the world does not revolve around us. We have to share the world with other people.

     In parts of the audio of the commencement, people would clap when David Foster Wallace was being ironic and kid of questioning their intelligence. I think the people in the audience did this because they did not realize what they were clapping for. They are just so used to applauding that they didn't even notice that he was insulting them in a way. I think this is indicative to how people don't realized when they are being controlled.

     In the begging of the speech, he started with a story about fish. To sum it all up, the fish didn't notice that they were living in water, because they have never seen anything else. They have never been outside of the water, therefore they didn't know what it was. Us human, can relate to this. Actually, every last one of us can. Many of us don't notice that were being controlled, because most of the time we profit from us. We are just so used to it, that we don't do anything about it. The truth is, if we weren't being controlled then we would be truly free. We would not be punished for the wrong decisions we make, and so many other things we would not be accountable for. We would have no one in power above us. Everyone would have the same amount of power and we would be treated equally.