All About Perspective

Why does it never stop?

“It? What is it?”

Thanks for asking. I’m referring to the never-ending cycle of schoolwork. Every student has to be aware of it by this point, even though some students genuinely don’t care. Every day I come home from school with some form of an assignment, and every weekend (any holiday from school, really) I find myself complaining about some large burden that has been piled onto my shoulders that I have to complete. Even during summer, after I have completed a course and gotten my hopes up of never having to worry about anything related to that subject whatsoever, there’s something given that the next teacher will surely check.

“I guess it doesn’t stop.”

That’s what it feels like, or at least that’s what I tell myself to make myself seem jolly about the world I’m so blessed to live in (hopefully you take notice of my sarcasm that is a part of my very charming sense of humor).

Mr. David Foster Wallace would most definitely be disappointed in me. Wallace is the author of, “This is Water,” which was originally a commencement speech given at Kenyon College in 2005. The speech decides to go in a different direction than most commencement speeches would, Wallace chooses to be realistic to the graduating students as he explains the downfalls you can face if you don’t take control of your perspective of life. Personally, I strongly believe the description he uses throughout the speech makes it relatable for everyone.

(If reading a speech isn’t your forte, there are numerous videos using the actual audio from when the speech was given. Sometimes, this can enhance your experience of the speech, and bring the visuals alive!)

After years of complaining about schoolwork, I realize, I make the choice to complain about the work I signed up for. Complaining is something we all do, almost as if our brains want to pity ourselves. Wallace brings that point up, we almost always instinctively choose the feel the worst.

Wallace suggests, “…if I don’t make a conscious decision about how to think and what to pay attention to, I’m going to be pissed and miserable every time I have to food-shop, because my natural default-setting is the certainty that situations like this are really all about me…” It’s pretty easy to turn this statement into a formula for most situations. As an example, I could say, “If I think the way I automatically want to, I’m going to be annoyed every time I have a new assignment to complete.”

Changing my perspective on assignments can change the entire situation. If we look at the situation as Wallace does at the supermarket in “This is Water,” then we should think about the teachers and other students. Maybe the other students don’t have the best life at home or they are not able to do the assignment at all, but they act as though they don’t care as a defense mechanism. And maybe the teachers hate their lives, yet they do whatever they feel will truly help students get to where they want to be in life.

Obviously assuming this is bizarre, but isn’t that the point? Changing the way you look at the situation doesn’t solve a solution in some magical way, I don’t suddenly love doing my work because I guilt myself into thinking that I should, but that isn’t what changing perspective is trying to make happen. When you try to observe scenarios with a different mindset, possibilities that wouldn’t have been possible open up.

Thank you, David Foster Wallace.