David Foster Wallace’s commencement address conveyed a message that seems to be quite simple, but is actually extremely complex. Wallace talks about how to approach daily life, and the different spins each individual can put on every situation.
He discusses a time in his life when was in line at the grocery store after a long day at work, and couldn’t help but be annoyed with every move anyone made around him. He states, “you get told to "Have a nice day" in a voice that is the absolute voice of death. Then you have to take your creepy, flimsy, plastic bags of groceries in your cart with the one crazy wheel that pulls maddeningly to the left, all the way out through the crowded, bumpy, littery parking lot.” After describing this way of approaching life, Wallace discusses a different outlook: one that forces you to be thankful for what you have and realize that the people around you probably have it much worse. Everyone discusses and pretends to embrace this message countless numbers of times, but in the heat of the moment it is very difficult to actually believe and acknowledge it. Wallace discusses how a liberal arts education is what allows you to have to skills to recognize this message if you want to, and to ignore it if you don’t. This is extremely profound and true, but also hard to recognize in the heat of the moment.
Reading Wallace’s speech made me think about the way I approach my own life, and the way I communicate with the people around me. It is always important to realize that someone else is in a harder situation than your own, and it is never worth it to let the little things in life effect you more than they should.
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