David Foster Wallace Kenyon Commencement Address (2005)

Delivered at Kenyon College in 2005 and later published as This Is Water, David Foster Wallace's address rejects breezy commencement optimism to examine adult existence at its most mundane. Wallace begins with a parable about fish asking what water is, then moves into the real work of adult life: navigating tedious commutes, crowded supermarket aisles, and petty frustrations without slipping into self-absorbed bitterness. The real value of an education, he argues, is not information but learning how to choose what to pay attention to and resisting the unconscious default setting that places oneself at the center of the universe. It is a bracing, profoundly compassionate plea for awareness and empathy.