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Garcia, Celeste
Professor Glen Collins
English 115
10 December 2015
Society vs Ourselves
As the world goes by, we have a choice on how we want to see our lives, but do we allow
ourselves to see in a different way? In This is Water by David Foster Wallace, he claims that
every single person believes that theyre the center of the universe and that we dont
acknowledge the people around us. George Saunders stated in Advice to Graduates that kindness
is crucial such as caring for others can greatly impact the world to make it a better place. The
definition of social literacy is different for everybody because factors such as self-independence
and cultural ideas has change the way people communicate with one another.
Foremost, society always, but nowadays people only seem to be interested in themselves
rather than the people around them. I come to realize that we only think about ourselves since in
society it seems natural, such as in This is Water, MY fatigue and MY desire to just get home,
and it's going to seem for all the world like everybody else is just in my way (Wallace 6). We
are taught to be self-independent, but do we include others in our own little world or do we keep
them out? For instance, in high school my so called friends would always talk about
themselves, yet when I wanted to speak about my issues they would somehow make up excuses
to not listen to me. I never understood why there are some people that believe that its okay for to
only care for your problems. My friends would always bragged about how they aim to be selfGarcia 2

independent, however they forget that an important piece which is to listen. One possible reason
that we try not to listen to the people around us is that they might feel that they dont know what
one person has been through, so they just push them away even though they are trying to help
that one person. Such as, parent teach their children to become self reliant, which shows that a
few people actually care about you. Yes, it may seem that there are so many horrible people in
the world, but that doesnt make up the entire population, so we need people in our lives to make
it better. Were only human, so we make mistakes, nevertheless we should listen to what others
have to say to make us aware how people can be a huge impact in our lives.
Next, as humans we believe that comfort is the way to go yet will it help us grow in our
lives? For the majority of us we go through the same routine and we try not to change it, such as
in This is Water in which he said, ...there is no experience you have had that you are not the the
absolute center of it (Wallace 3). He argues that we only care about on our own issues being that
we dont have any prior knowledge to our surroundings. How I see it is that society goes day by
day and only focus on our issues due to how society makes it seem normal about it. For example,
being the youngest in my family I feel the need to talk about my issues, but it gets difficult to
listen to my family members because Im so use to hearing my own opinions rather than
everybody else. Living in a society in which we only hear I or me makes us seem selfish without
even realizing. I criticized others about being conceited, yet it doesnt occur to me that Im doing
the same thing. Its hit me that we are ignorant and that we try the issues around us since its
already difficult for us to live with our own problems. Although it seems right to care

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about our own issues, we need to recognize that theres people in our life that wants to help us
because were humans, so we have similar feelings about how we perceive the world.
Then, at a young age we are taught to be kind to make the world a better place, so whats
the reason that we dont do it all the time? In Advice to Graduates, Saunders regrets not
defending Ellen, a girl that was always made fun he says, when another human being was there,
in front of me, suffering, and I responded . . . sensibly (2). This has happened to everybody, for
instance when I was walking towards Burger King, I saw a homeless man pleading for money,
but I was hungry why should I give him my money, so I ignored him. I knew what I did was
wrong because I just didnt give him the chance to talk about the reasons why he needed the
money. We all have the choice on whether or not we want to help others, but why dont we do
this often? As time goes by we learn more about ourselves, for example Saunders states, as we
get older, we come to see how useless it is to be selfish (3). For my experience of not giving the
money to the homeless man I learned that I have to considered everybodys feelings because this
can happen to anyone including myself. By being kind it can make me more aware about the
issues that occurs daily in the world and hopefully they can make me less ignorant and selfish.
We have the power to be kind, so this can help our society become more aware of our
surroundings which can greatly impact our world.
Lastly, humanity has the ability on how we can see or help others, that can change our
own perspectives of our society. Wallaces believes that our society only think about themselves,
but we have a choice on how we can change the world. Saunders claims that kindness is
important in our lives, so that we can become more conscious about the issues that people have
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around us. Even though society looks like a dangerous place to live in its up to us on how we
want to perceive the world.
Prompt:
For this progression, you will craft a thesis-driven essay in which you discuss your own social
literacy within the context of a larger conversation. To achieve this, you will need to reflect upon
the various factors (communal, cultural, political, familial, academic, etc.) that contribute to your
social literacy. In this way, you are becoming literate in regard to your understanding of the ways
in which these outside forces have played a role in shaping your thoughts and your ability to be
an active, self-aware member of your various communities and beyond. You should include
information about how you might have acquired certain behaviors and attitudes related to social
literacy and what you have learned from the experience. In addition, you should not only
consider how these behaviors and/or words may have affected you, but how they affect society
as well.

Work Cited List

"George Saunders's Advice to Graduates." The 6th Floor George Saunderss Advice
to Graduates Comments. N.p., 31 July 2013. Web. 29 Sept. 2015.
Wallace, David Foster. "This Is Water." N.p., n.d. Web.