Compare and Contrast

Mr. Wallace's "This is Water" and Mrs. Morrison's "Nobel Lecture" are in my opinion more different than alike. Wallace talks about how most people are very selfish and make themselves the center of the universe by looking down on others and getting annoyed by them easily, but he also states that that attitude is our "default setting" and that we have to make a choice everyday whether to be ignorant and put you're self on a high pedestal or to be aware of other people and their problems and their needs. People need "awareness of what is so real and essential, so hidden in plain sight all around us that we have to keep reminding ourselves, over and over, "This is water, this is water." He also states that we all worship something whether it is the material, superficial things or the holy. If you worship the materialistic things than it will never be enough; "it will eat you alive".
Morrison uses metaphors and fables to describe her thoughts on how important language is and how we have the right to stand up and stop those who "loot" our language and the desire to express it. She also states that the art of language is what makes us human and separates us from the animals. “Word-work is sublime, she thinks, because it is generative; it makes meaning that secures our difference, our human difference – the way in which we are like no other life.” 
 That is why we must treasure it. I feel like her point was to say that language is in our hands and we must defend it and also use it for good. In the past language hasn't always been used in the right ways but now it is in your hands, make it better than what we never could. "Weather it is to stay alive, it is your decision. Whatever the case, it is your responsibility."
I feel the main similarities between these two speeches are that we all have choices to make. We must choose whether to be more aware of what reality really is or what to worship or how we use our tongue. Both pieces also use metaphors and symbolism to ask the topic questions. "What the hell is water?" or "Is the bird dead or alive?" and also have answers like, "this is water" and "the bird is in your hands".