David Foster Wallace Commencement Address Essay Example

David Foster Wallace made an excellent Kenyon College Commencement. Rather than the boring conventional speeches, he came up with the idea of telling the students about the reality i.e. what is going to happen after this youth will come in the real part of life. Instead of giving students a crap of what amazing things they are going to do in future, he makes them realize the dark aspects of future. Not only this, but he also provides a solution to handle that situation. Wallace explains about the boring aspects of adulthood. He explains what is it like when someone has responsibilities on his shoulders. The thing that he focusses on is what we think and how we think. Our thinking has a direct effect on our lives; if we have an optimistic approach then things would get easy for us but having a pessimistic approach would do nothing but make us more frustrated. According to him, the way we perceive things matters a lot. For instance, he talks extensively about the boring routine and the supermarket stuff. The way he makes a scene in our minds about how one can gets mad on all the things he has to go through while driving to home from work. How one can get angry about others’ driving, the children crying, the long lines in supermarket and even about the gas guzzler SUVs. But his purpose of creating this scene in the students’ minds is to tell them not to be frustrated by this stuff but just relax and enjoy life. Have an optimistic approach towards life. The fast driving might be because someone’s child needs doctor’s help or all the people in the long line might be feeling same or worse than him. Everyone could have a long, tired and frustrated day.
Wallace is right in suggesting that this that life might be more difficult for the others than it is for us. Someone might be in more trouble than we are. We don’t always have to be so self-centered. Always thinking about our own selves is not the solution to a frustrated life. It would just make the situation worse. But