“Stay Hungry, Stay Foolish”

I was saddened to hear about Steve Jobs' passing earlier this week. At age 56, it seemed like such a young age to die. But, when you are battling cancer, as he was in the past, all of your time is a gift.

Now, I am not a MAC/Apple person. My father used to own a Macintosh computer, and liked the user friendliness aspects. I seem to be ambidextrous about computers, as long as I learn to use them, I can use them. Others see it differently. They HAVE to use a Mac or the HAVE to use a PC. Maybe it is because I am left-handed and have had to be more accommodating in a right-handed world that I don't have a computer preference.

I am fine with PC's, in fact I am writing on one right now. But, in college, I had an experience that made me consider the Gateway computer lines a “Gateway to Hell”. That was due to lost data. I learned later that it was a graduate student who had dumped my data (of which I had worked long hours to input) so he could load a computer game. So, it really was not the computer's fault, but I can't help but consider Gateways any other way. My husband had a considerably hard time writing his thesis on a Mac and has never liked Apple products. It might also be the fact that he likes to build computers and the Apple people really don't let you do that. Also, affording an Apple product is kind of a stretch for our family, that is just the way it is.

But, I am not trying to Apple bash, they make fine, beautiful products. How else could they be doing so well now? That is mainly due to Mr Jobs' vision. Here, I would like to honor Mr. Jobs as a visionary and discuss his speech given in 2005 to the graduating class of Stanford University.

If you have not heard or read his speech, I highly recommend it, it is quite inspiring. I heard it on NPR (yes, I listen to them quite often) when it was played for the last half an hour of “Talk of the Nation” last Thursday. Here is a link to a Guardian article with the text of the speech, and commentary (http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2011/oct/09/steve-jobs-stanford-commencement-address?newsfeed=true ).


Mr. Jobs gives 3 stories of his life which shaped him to the person he was at the end of his life. The lessons are a kind of opposite to the standard ones you hear in commencement speeches. He dropped out of college and considers it a good thing for life (most people would just consider him a drop-out). It is interesting that many of the Silicon Valley big-wigs did not finish college. Maybe just a few years was enough for them. The second story is about his being fired from Apple. Yes, it is true. He got brought back when his company NEXT got bought by Apple, but still, he got fired. The last story is about how he was diagnosed with cancer and had to face death. Doing so bravely, and wanting to live life to it's fullest.

The lessons are all about how to face adversity. Sure, first you are probably devastated by anything like this happening in your life. But, as Mr. Jobs points out from his life, you can take dropping-out, getting fired, and facing down death as opportunities. These things make sure you focus your life.

He was the visionary he was about technology, but he was also focused on his goals because he knew everything else was secondary. It is a lot easier to have a clear vision of what you want in life if you focus on what is important to you. What do you love? Is it your priority?

My great loves are my family and my writing. In that order. I do try to keep everything else out of my focus. My writing suffers, but my children have to come first, I just have to trust that everything will then work out.

The last thing Mr. Jobs discussed in his commencement speech was a saying from the Whole Earth Catalog that he uses as his last recommendation for everyone. I think he would want this to be his words of advice to the whole world: stay hungry, stay foolish.


Now, at first glance, you might think those are insane words of advice to anyone. But the opposite of that is stay satiated, stay sensible. Those words are what is expected, and those who do what is expected usually do not make an impact in this world. Yes, you are doing alright, but are you doing what you love? Sometimes you do have to just hope that things will work out for the best and take chances.


So, I agree with Mr. Jobs, because time is short. It certainly was for him and I do believe he lived his life to the fullest.


Therefore, stay hungry and stay foolish.



We are traveling to Texas for a week to attend a family wedding.  Being on the road makes it more difficult to blog for me, so I am taking next week off.  See you in two weeks!