“My 11th grade English teacher taught us more than curriculum; he taught us about life. We read a really insightful speech in his class called ‘This is Water’ by David Foster Wallace, which basically says that no one person is the center of the universe and that it's important to consider what other people might be going through. For example, if someone cuts me off in traffic, I can go around being angry or I can think, ‘Maybe they were trying to get a pregnant woman to the hospital.’ I can be mad at the lady in front of me at the grocery store because she has a crying kid and doesn’t hush him up, or I could think, ‘Maybe she just got off work and just picked up her child; maybe she’s going through a lot of things.’ It’s hard to think that way, but when I do, when I take into consideration the lives of other people and what they might be facing, it relieves a lot of stress. Maybe what I imagine isn’t the reality of the situation, but it could be something like that. Being willing to give people a little slack helps me approach things in a more positive way and connect with people a lot easier. That’s perhaps the most important thing I’ve ever learned.”
Transcript of speech: This is Water by David Foster Wallace
YouTube Video: This is Water by David Foster Wallace
YouTube Video: This is Water by David Foster Wallace
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