Ignorance In David Foster Wallace's This Is Water

Each day I walk through the streets completely unaware that each and every single person that I walked by has a story of their own. Whether it’s an ideally happy one or a sad one, each person is made uniquely of stories. Only after my introduction to This is Water by David Foster Wallace, did I realize how much I relate to him and what he was saying. One idea Wallace expressed well was all humans have a default, natural way, of thinking. Using his inner thoughts as an example, he confessed that it is “[his] deep belief that [he is] the absolute center of the universe, the realest, most vivid and important person in existence (Paragraph 2).” Reflecting on his words, I couldn’t help but to compare ourselves, leading to the realization that he

I’ve experienced juveniles stealing their parents’ credit cards in order to fulfill their materialistic desires, seeming as if their wants are of utmost importance. Of course when I witness this, I just sit back and think about how the parents would react, even wondering to myself whether or not the child feels remorse for putting their parents in debt. When any individual does not get what they yearn for, they become deceitful to satisfy their demands. The times where I’ve been a victim to pure selfishness is almost always when I’m at the airport waiting for my luggage to arrive on the conveyor belt. Only there do I become the most impatient person to exist, wanting to scream at the employees as to why it takes them so long to deliver my luggage, totally oblivious to the fact that they’ve got to carry heavy suitcases, hundreds of them. It’s hard to conceive as to why nothing can work out in my favor at this period of time, but pon my improved perception, brought upon by Wallace’s speech, I was able to apprehend my self-oriented personality and pessimistic stance on life and my decisions, which ultimately displayed the unnecessary negativity and caused me to have a more positive outlook on life, that I should start being more considerate and empathetic towards others, more caring for others, and more aware of what others are going through as well. To draw a close, Wallace offers an ideal explanation that if people don’t begin to exercise the flexibility they have when it comes to choosing how to think or add meaning to their routine experiences, they have nothing to gain and life loses its beauty. “This is Water” not only sends the message that humans are naturally self-centered, but also suggests that humans are slaves to their own brains, and the only method to escape that madness is to change their perspective on their