What does "This is water" mean?

I've had several people ask me about the significance of "This is water", so here's the story...

I have a very dear friend Cindy who is fond of buying multiple copies of books and giving them to her friends. The first book she ever gave me was This Is Water: Some Thoughts, Delivered on a Significant Occasion, about Living a Compassionate Life. This is the text of a speech that was given at the 2005 Kenyon College commencement by David Foster Wallace, published as a book. 

Here is a link to the full text of the speech: This is water.

Cindy gave me this book at a very important turning point in my life, when I was consciously working on changing my own ways of thinking and living. This text has come to define for me the importance of taking an active, conscious approach to how I see the world. It puts into words my realization about how much my beliefs and views are a matter of choice. I am able to choose what I pay attention to and what I see as significant in my life.

David Foster Wallace articulates the importance of this realization in his speech, but nothing could illustrate more the seriousness of what is at stake than his 2008 suicide. Obviously, it's not that he didn't grasp these concepts on an intellectual level. As someone who has dealt with depression and suicidal thoughts in the past, I understand how easily my own thinking can start slipping back to its default setting. The choice of what to think about and what to believe is a choice that has to be made on a daily basis. I have to keep reminding myself, just like at the end of the speech.

"This is water."

"This is water"

This blog is a way of reminding myself of the beauty and significance of what's around me. It's about awareness. It's about noticing the water and choosing to believe in things. It's about learning how to be happy, and sharing that with people I love.