The commencement speech written by David Foster Wallace covered several topics that I was drawn to and they really got me thinking. One in particular Foster mentioned in the second paragraph. He said, “the most obvious, important realities are often the hardest to see and talk about” (Wallace 1). This made me think about the everyday things that I do, some of which I don’t even realize I am doing, all of them are crucial to my well-being. I also thought about it in a different aspect of communication with others. When approaching communication with other people, I find the little things easy to forget about and to forget to address, so when it comes to actually needing to address them it makes everything a much bigger deal than it could have been in the first place. Another idea that Wallace brought up that I took a particular interest in was looking at how we see our realities, and how expanding the way we think allows us to do so. “But most days, if you’re aware enough to give yourself a choice, you can choose to look differently” (Wallace 6). When I read this I tied it back to what I was thinking about on the first page of the speech. Because Wallace is giving this speech at a college commencement, it made me think about my own life and what I am learning how to do for myself here at college. Learning how to think is one of these crucial elements that I am immersing myself in and getting to know better than I did before. I try to go through life at a point where I am aware enough to try and see the best in people, and this portion of the text was a good reminder to keep trying to learn to do this in the most adequate way possible.
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