David Wallace's Speech

          David Foster Wallace idea that life consist of fundamental choices that lie entirely within the human person and allow them to engage the world differently is true because we are all unique. Everyone sees the world differently through their eyes and have choices they need to make on their own.  The choices we make as a human person effect the way we will perceive or see something. Just like he said about the Christian and the atheists, the atheist tried to believe in God even when he was stranded in the cold snow weather. He even says he got on his knees praying to God saying if he would guide him out of the storm and live he would believe in God, but when the Christian is stumbled because the atheists is still alive the atheist said there were Eskimos walking by that helped him.  The atheist didn’t see the Eskimos as a sign from God but as a coincidence while the Christian is shocked because he sees that as a sign or a miracle. We all are our own person where we see and do things in our own way through choices we make within ourselves.

            This idea of thinking is defiantly creditable because again we are all different from one another and the way you and I see something is going to be different. The choices we make within ourselves will ultimately define who we are and what we believe in. The way we see the world is how we make our choices because one person may think our world is corrupt and ruined the other may be thinking our world is fine and dandy, but it is all based on our fundamental choices is the way we see the world. Wallace even says that we automatically think about ourselves, our surrounding and what we choose to do and how to think. We figure out what we want to see because we decide what we want to worship, he also says that there is no such thing as an atheist because we all want to believe in something and worship someone. The thing is we are the ones who get to choose that and when we think for ourselves we choose what we want for us.

            I engage in our default-setting of choice as something we all do every day. We all make decisions for ourselves unconsciously in our default- setting and it happens to me just as Wallace talked about how in every experience we see ourselves as the center and that our needs are real, immediate and urgent. We all  can be taught something, but the way we learn and see it will still be different from someone else. Wallace talks about us thinking for ourselves and it is true everyone always think of what they want first and not consider everyone else and what kind of life they live or struggles they may go through. Choice is how we make decisions and how we get first impressions of someone without even meeting them. Choice is something we can’t be taught, but can be influenced. Meaning, when Wallace talked about going to the grocery store at a time where there’s a lot of others he says that they are all their with the same mind set to get a little shopping done after work like you (student) are when you come back from a long day at work. People can make similar choices to others as well as have influenced ideas such as getting some shopping after work because you see, like others, that it’s a convenient time.

            The question “how would I like to engage this choice” is something difficult to answer because my default-setting unconsciously makes decision that I like and make me the center. If I could go against it or train myself I would like to not only think of myself as the center but for others who are in need of help. No matter what we are all hardwired to a default-setting as a way we think and automatically see our needs first. Even if we are trying to help someone we still choose to think of our self first and how making a choice to help someone will affect us I a good or bad way. Wallace whole idea, in my opinion, is that he is trying to say that we should all train our default-setting of thinking of ourselves as the center of our experiences and that in the end true freedom involves attention, awareness, effort and discipline to truly care about others and be able to sacrifice for them over and over even though our alternative is unconsciousness and default-setting of thinking.

            While Wallace was talking there were people who laughed, chuckled and clapped at his speech at time where he was being ironic, or even challenging the way they engage the world. The people clapped when he  pretty much is insulting them because he used experience that they all could relate to and had a shared experience with. Wallace was insulting the bad and irritating experiences such as grocery shopping and even traffic. The people saw what he said relatable to what they have done before or have heard about. In his speech Wallace was using relatable experiences to get people to understand what he was trying to convey or see in his speech. He wanted everyone listening to be able to see and say “oh yea that’s happened to me” or “oh I really didn’t think I did that when I’m in traffic but I guess I do”. Wallace was just trying to share with everyone how they engage the world and what they may do unconsciously with their default-setting way of thinking. In the end his speech was great and made a lot of sense especially using experiences that everyone could relate to and thinks about from the way he presented it.