I think that because David Foster Wallace's speech was given to graduates of Kenyon, it had a greater effect on his audience because it was more eye opening and related really well to them. He starts of by giving an example of two fish that are swimming and an older fish swimming by nods and says, “Morning, boys. How’s the water?” Later the fish question, “What the hell is water?”. This story simply shows that the fish did not realize what was around them all this time, meaning that the realities in life are some times the most difficult to see.
Wallace continues by telling them that their education is more than just a degree or going to class and paying attention, he said that in order to receive a full education students must first learn how to think. He did not simply mean that people need to learn to "think", but what and how they think about things. He states how people believe that they are the center of the universe and take only their thoughts and feelings in to account. Basically stating that you have the ability to control "what you pay attention to and how you construct meaning from the experience".
I agree with Wallace when he states that most individuals are self centered and tend to care mostly about themselves, but everyone is able to overcome that by being more aware of others and your surroundings.
Krystal I completely agree with your second and third paragraphs. I think what I personally got most out of the speech was how we are living our lives in such self centeredness. Wallace talks about how selfishness and thinking about ourselves first is our natural default setting. In which I believe it is. After reading this speech I sat back and thought to myself and said wow I do catch myself basing my choices and thoughts about what I want. and not what could be beneficial to others. A true education in his eyes would be one that educates not only on book work but one where you gain knowledge on how to live and work with others and be a part of your society. Its basically book smarts and street smarts if you will. But you won't go anywhere without the right mentality and consciousness of learning how to think and make correct choices in life. not on a test. Just like what you said you have to aware of others and the surroundings. Once you understand how to think your life will change for the better and you'll think about everything and everyone else around you. Not just yourself. Its hard to do because we would be going against what our natural consciousness is but once you do then you will truly mastered the meaning of education and you will positively influence everything you come in contact with.
ReplyDeleteKrystal, I do agree that most people do only hold concerns for themselves and I do appreciate Wallace's purpose in pointing that out and attempting to show that we need to be more open minded and accepting of others but he does little to explain how. Education does hold great importance and opens doors, but he suggests that it teaches us what to think about and how to think and I don't agree. I believe that those things come from experience or just being more open minded in general. In all my years of being in school, I don't recall ever taking away anything but facts or techniques. No one ever taught, or even suggested what I needed to think about and what things I needed to consider. In fact, I feel like it was the opposite. I was only ever told how to get ahead, even though I have no interest to, and I was taught how to look after myself and how to support myself. He explains why being more open minded and not being self centered is beneficial and why its important to turn away from your "default setting" but he never explains how. You and him are both correct in saying that you can live a more fulfilling life by being aware of your surroundings and the people around you, and his advice is valuable, but I wish it had been more in depth.
ReplyDeleteKrystal, I like how began your post by mentioning how appropriate Wallace’s speech was considering the purpose and audience. To go further, I believe that although his speech was at times hard to follow, the overall lesson he taught was near perfect for graduating college students. We spend all this time and money working hard in school and then graduate to sometimes question what the purpose of all of it was. Like proposed in Wallace’s story about the fish, sometimes the most obvious realities are hardest to see. For example, what is next in life for these college graduates. As you stated, he goes on to explain that his purpose of his speech was to teach the audience that they need to learn how to think. He stated that their cognitive function of thinking is up to par but they need to learn more on how to control what they think about. On a stressful day, he explains they may catch themselves blaming everyone surrounding them for all their problems when in reality; our negative thoughts fuel our problems. Overall, I feel as if your blog response, covered the vague idea of his speech but could of gone slightly further in depth. For example, where you discussed how every person is subject to change and overcome selfish thoughts was good but not very thorough. I feel like a large part of overcoming selfish thoughts and beginning to think of others first is a huge challenge. This is especially true when that person is having a tough day and does not want to deal with it, just like Wallace mentioned in his writing. With a little more detail in some areas, I agree with your post and found it helpful in my comprehension of Wallace’s speech.
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