Pursuing Your Dreams

By Angelica Covino

Every college senior has some direction they plan to follow after they graduate. Some will go straight into it and some may lag behind and need that extra push. On June 12, 2005, Stanford University’s 114th Commencement Address was presented by Steve Jobs, chief executive officer and co-founder of Apple Inc. and of Pixar Animations Studio.

In a video now on Youtube, Mr. Jobs addresses the Class of 2005, their families, and faculty on his experiences in his career. He admits to not have graduated college. He divides his speech into three points: Connect the Dots, Find What You Love, and Death.

Connect the Dots was about how he dropped out of school, dropped the classes he had no interest in and kept the ones he had interest in. Little did he know that these classes would help him later in life.  He went to Reed College, slept in friends’ dorms, used the five cents on the water bottles to return for cash, and went to the temple to get a good meal each Sunday. He took calligraphy classes and enjoyed it very much. He applauds taking them because it helped him distinguish typefaces for the Macintosh computer system.

“You’ve got to find what you love. If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking, don’t settle,” he says as he began speaking about the formation of Apple.  Jobs speaks of his time with Apple, how he got fired, and started over by creating Next and Pixar. Since Apple bought Next, he went back to Apple. He tells the senior class to work hard, follow your dreams and always keep the faith. He tells them love the work you do and you will live a great life.

The last point he made is about Death. He speaks about his experience with a rare form of pancreatic cancer and how he overcame it. “Live each day as if it were your last on Earth,” he says. He talks about decision making in life. He talks about the importance of the expectations you give yourself and how to prevent failure. Jobs repeats the phrase “Follow your heart,” the theme of the speech.

“Life can flash out before your eyes, one day you’re happy as can be and the next you’re told there is a tumor on your pancreas and told you have three to six months to live,” he adds, speaking about living his life with a disease that has slight chances of a cure.

That was a close encounter with death for Jobs, who lived another six years. Nowadays, teenagers face life and death more often in cars, or even drug and alcohol use. Time is limited for each person and death is the way to make way for the new and sweep out the old. Be brave and courageous in this life, because the opportunities are countless.

For more information:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VHWUCX6osgM