David Foster Wallace This Is Water Summary

The United States is strongly polarized in politics because of the way we choose to talk about our opinions. This is shown throughout a couple pieces such as “This is Water” by David Foster Wallace and, Parker Palmer piece “The politics of the broken hearted.” In “This is Water” by David Foster Wallace it talks about the hidden feelings in people that aren't always clearly shown. For example, when the man goes into the grocery store and the lines are taking a long time, he's getting annoyed but he doesn't know how that cashier could be feeling or how their day/week has gone. They could be struggling with keeping up and you never know that, you're losing your patience and you aren't going to have a normal conversation with her, you're ready
People judge others for their beliefs in politics. They will not, want to sit down and talk to them about maybe why they believe what they do, whether there is a reason behind it or not, just like in the grocery store, the man wasn't going to talk to the cashier about why the line is so slow, he's just going to check out and leave because he's tired. In the Parker Palmer piece “The Politics of the Brokenhearted” it talks about how we as citizens of the United States are working together. We are sectioned off into our separate beliefs and we can't come together to change for the betterment of the country. Specifically in the article it says “And where have “we the people” gone- we have the power to reclaim democracy for its highest purposes, unless we allow ourselves to be divided and conquered by the enemy within and among us.” (pg 2) He says that we are dividing ourselves and that much more could be done while working together then separating by our beliefs. Another quote from the piece that I liked was “With people who are irrevocably committed to violence, I may never find the smallest patch of common