Steve Jobs Commencement:Response

Steve Jobs is a better speaker than I initially thought.  While reading his biography, I didn't find it particularly unusual that he had been such a  loner and  outcast in his grade school years.  There are many people who are ahead of their time and obviously this was Steve Job's case. He obviously, grew out of his childhood mannerism and developed the business man, keynote speaker that appeared before the Stanford class. Jobs' points that he so elegantly delivered at the speech were surprisingly sentimental and extremely insightful.  The three ideas that he expressed reminded me of very necessarily views that one should take up.

 The first point the Jobs touched on was having faith that everything will work out.  This is quite a hard concept to adapt because upon delivery, Jobs made it seem as though dropping out of school was the greatest thing he ever did.  Jobs takes pride in the fact that he dropped out of college, but he also does not let on to think that it is for everyone, nor did he come off as a salesman of the choice.  There is no pressure to drop out, he only lets the audience in on how well he like the choice.  However, becoming a dropout was not to be seen traditionally in Jobs' case.  Even though he dropped out he was still able to stay on the floors of his university friends and audit classes.  To Jobs, dropping out merely meant that he was able to take the courses that he wanted to take.  By not wasting time on the required courses Jobs was ale to pull free and be his own person.  He was finding himself when he sought after the courses he wanted. He made the point that when you have to have faith that things will work out.  Using a calligraphy class as an example, Jobs was able to express how even the smallest things in the oddest of circumstances will connect with your future in a good way.  Even something like taking class in college can help in revolutionizing technology.  This faith that he talks about can be compared to many people showing their faith toward a deity.  Instead of putting faith into someone else Jobs explained that it you should faith in yourself.  Jobs said "You have to trust in something; your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever."  The example he uses all pertained to the self and not a deity or religious background.  From this quote, it is clear the Jobs has an opinion about pertaining to ones' self.

Jobs brings up a story about following your heart to do what you love.  This sends a person on mission to find something that you love and stick to it.  In most religions there is a state of place or a place that every follower wants to get to.  For example, Christians want to get to heaven.  To Jobs, I feel as though his heaven, or nirvana, is doing what he loves.  He was fortunate to have found that early on in his life.  But there are many people who find themselves at a job they hate or a job that they just don;t love.  In Bellah's book, he tells about a person who works for a community who he loves.  He loves the community so much that he is blind to the actuality of the town and its people.  This man did what he loved.  Jobs wanted the audience as well as others, to believe that if you just did what you loved then it all would come together.  There was once a saying the went something along the lines of,  "Do what you love and the money will come".  Many are afraid of pursuing what they love because it may not be any money in that career.  Not everyone's love is multi-million dollar technology corporations like Jobs, but there is still some truth to his words.  If you want to do what you love then you won't mind working that much harder to ensure that it stays that way.  This is a goal in life that Jobs brings to the forefront of their minds because of the importance of it.

The point that Jobs makes is that you have to live life to the fullest because death is around the corner.  Jobs asked himself everyday that if he died the next day, would he want to be doing what he is doing right now.  That comment struck me, because your body can go on autopilot without you even realizing.  So many times we are faced to do things that we don't want to do on a daily basis and we only put up with it because it seems like the right thing.  Consciously asking ourselves whether what we do is to die for or not, lets our minds think for its self and its own happiness. Jobs talked about how death is around the corner and that you should do what you feel is right because how much longer will you have.

The commencement was a wonderfully delivered.  The ideals and suggestions that Jobs gave were insightful and inspiring.  The points that he made were building blocks to living a religious life without the religion.  The place that he felt everyone should aspire to go was finding that something you love, that way when you ask yourself every morning if you are doing something worthy of your last days, then you can say yes.  That is why he wants you to put your faith in yourself or "whatever".  Not only faith in yourself, but also in the things that you want to do.  In the end of the speech Jobs explains that the graduates are now young and new, but that they will soon be becoming the old and that they have to lay down their foundation and their mark for the future generations.