David Foster Wallace Commencement Speech On Setting Of Thinking

According to David Foster Wallace’s Commencement Speech we all have a natural default setting of thinking. That natural setting happens to be that the world revolves around us. Our emotions, our needs, are the most important things in the world. This setting has a huge amount of influence over how we view the world and what we chose to believe about everyday situations. This setting of being self-centered is the default setting. It can also lead to a lot of unnecessary frustration.

Think about the last time you were in line at the bank. There is alway that one elderly lady that seems to be just taking forever at the bank teller. That elderly lady needs to have every item explained to her as if she were a toddler, how stupid could she be? This is what our default setting of thinking would lead us to believe.

Maybe her husband just passed away and he had always been the one to handle their finances. So not only is this elderly lady carrying the immense grief of losing her partner, but she also now has to figure out how to manage her finances at the same time. Taking just one minute to consider that possibility could completely change your entire attitude about standing in line at the bank.

In order to come to conclusions like that in everyday situations you need to open your mind. You need to actually think about the world and the people in it as more than just objects in your way. This is what we call becoming “well-adjusted”. College is said to teach you how to think. That is just the shortest most abrupt way to put it. What people actually mean when they say this is college teaches you how to chose what to think rather than the ability to think itself. College teaches you to consider the possibility that the world doesn’t revolve around you and your