Thanks Steve

Thursday night my dad threw a pile of papers at me with a single instruction: "Read."  Anytime one decides to take on the challenge of printing from our devil printer, it is for a very important reason.  What followed was the text to one of Steve Job's most famous and influential speeches, his Commencement Speech at Stanford in 2005.  As soon as Mrs. Cardona announced in class on Friday that our blog posts could be on anything we wanted, I knew immediately that this speech is what I wanted to write about.  So sitting down this morning to write, I realize, oh crap, it's a speech.  And then not only, "Oh crap, it's a speech," but ohhhhh crap, there is a video that goes along with it.  So I'm guessing right now Mrs. Cardona is thinking "Yeah Caroline! More practice for rhetorical analysis!" And I'm thinking "Really Caroline? Look at the hole you have dug for yourself. You think your weekend will be brain-pain free without any of that silly analyzing Cardona is always making you do and then you have to go and find a speech to blog about."  I've decided however that maybe, just maybe, I can use this blog post to somewhat, hopefully, redeem just a little bit of my dignity after butchering my Jesse Jackson analysis paper in class on Friday.  
Ever yelled at your computer and then awkwardly realized nothing was going to happen because, well, it's a computer?  I'm definitely guilty.  The biggest thing that Steve Jobs did WRONG was his failure to make eye contact with his audience.  The majority of the speech Jobs stared down at his podium, reading off his script. This is BAD BAD BAD! If I have learned anything in this class it's that if you are looking to put someone to sleep, just read off exactly what you have written down.  I was so disappointed when I watched this video because the transcript was SO good and Jobs's delivery and body language was atrocious.  Okay, that is all the hating I will do on Steve Jobs because he is Steve Jobs, basically the creator of the modern world.  As follows are my two favorite quotes from the speech:


"Remembering that I'll be dead soon is the most important tool I've ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything — all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure - these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart."


"Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of others' opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary."


I know these two quotes are the reason my dad gave me this speech to read and they relate to two major periods of time in my life. 


When I was five, my dad was diagnosed with cancer and it almost killed him.  When that kind of thing happens, it really changes your perspective on life.  Last year, I was diagnosed with major depressive disorder.  The last thing I was thinking about was being positive.  Jobs's speech was just a reminder of how important it is to be happy. It is okay to be selfish sometimes.  You have to do what is best for you and you can't be afraid to take risks.  Life is short and you only get one of them so you have to make the best of it.  I know everyone has heard this same kind of thing a million times, but when you have faced death or hit rock bottom because you are so sad, these kind of words really stand out.  My dad was saved, and rededicating his life to being happy was the choice he made.  As my parent, he is teaching me this same life lesson.  Be brave and be true to yourself.  As Jobs's says, "There is no reason not to follow your heart."