KK-ivity x2

Thanks to a friend who shared this inspirational piece with me.

Transcript of Commencement Speech at Stanford
by Steve Jobs

Thank you. I’m honored to be with you today for your commencement from one of the finest universities in the world. Truth be told, I never graduated from college and this is the closest I’ve ever gotten to a college graduation.

Today I want to tell you three stories from my life. That’s it. No big deal. Just three stories.

The first story is about connecting the dots.

I dropped out of Reed College after the first six months but then stayed around as a drop-in for another eighteen months or so before I really quit. So why did I drop out? It started before I was born. My biological mother was a young, unwed graduate student, and she decided to put me up for adoption. She felt very strongly that I should be adopted by college graduates, so everything was all set for me to be adopted at birth by a lawyer and his wife, except that when I popped out, they decided at the last minute that they really wanted a girl. So my parents, who were on a waiting list, got a call in the middle of the night asking, “We’ve got an unexpected baby boy. Do you want him?” They said, “Of course.” My biological mother found out later that my mother had never graduated from college and that my father had never graduated from high school. She refused to sign the final adoption papers. She only relented a few months later when my parents promised that I would go to college.

This was the start in my life. And seventeen years later, I did go to college, but I naïvely chose a college that was almost as expensive as Stanford, and all of my working-class parents’ savings were being spent on my college tuition. After six months, I couldn’t see the value in it. I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life, and no idea of how college was going to help me figure it out, and here I was, spending all the money my parents had saved their entire life. So I decided to drop out and trust that it would all work out OK. It was pretty scary at the time, but looking back, it was one of the best decisions I ever made. The minute I dropped out, I could stop taking the required classes that didn’t interest me and begin dropping in on the ones that looked far more interesting.

It wasn’t all romantic. I didn’t have a dorm room, so I slept on the floor in friends’ rooms. I returned Coke bottles for the five-cent deposits to buy food with, and I would walk the seven miles across town every Sunday night to get one good meal a week at the Hare Krishna temple. I loved it. And much of what I stumbled into by following my curiosity and intuition turned out to be priceless later on. Let me give you one example.

Reed College at that time offered perhaps the best calligraphy instruction in the country. Throughout the campus every poster, every label on every drawer was beautifully hand-calligraphed. Because I had dropped out and didn’t have to take the normal classes, I decided to take a calligraphy class to learn how to do this. I learned about serif and sans-serif typefaces, about varying the amount of space between different letter combinations, about what makes great typography great. It was beautiful, historical, artistically subtle in a way that science can’t capture, and I found it fascinating.

None of this had even a hope of any practical application in my life. But ten years later when we were designing the first Macintosh computer, it all came back to me, and we designed it all into the Mac. It was the first computer with beautiful typography. If I had never dropped in on that single course in college, the Mac would have never had multiple typefaces or proportionally spaced fonts, and since Windows just copied the Mac, it’s likely that no personal computer would have them.

If I had never dropped out, I would have never dropped in on that calligraphy class and personals computers might not have the wonderful typography that they do.

Of course it was impossible to connect the dots looking forward when I was in college, but it was very, very clear looking backwards 10 years later. Again, you can’t connect the dots looking forward. You can only connect them looking backwards, so you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something–your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever–because believing that the dots will connect down the road will give you the confidence to follow your heart, even when it leads you off the well-worn path, and that will make all the difference.

My second story is about love and loss.

I was lucky. I found what I loved to do early in life. Woz and I started Apple in my parents’ garage when I was twenty. We worked hard and in ten years, Apple had grown from just the two of us in a garage into a $2 billion company with over 4,000 employees. We’d just released our finest creation, the Macintosh, a year earlier, and I’d just turned thirty, and then I got fired. How can you get fired from a company you started? Well, as Apple grew, we hired someone who I thought was very talented to run the company with me, and for the first year or so, things went well. But then our visions of the future began to diverge, and eventually we had a falling out. When we did, our board of directors sided with him, and so at thirty, I was out, and very publicly out. What had been the focus of my entire adult life was gone, and it was devastating. I really didn’t know what to do for a few months. I felt that I had let the previous generation of entrepreneurs down, that I had dropped the baton as it was being passed to me. I met with David Packard and Bob Noyce and tried to apologize for screwing up so badly. I was a very public failure and I even thought about running away from the Valley. But something slowly began to dawn on me. I still loved what I did. The turn of events at Apple had not changed that one bit. I’d been rejected but I was still in love. And so I decided to start over.

I didn’t see it then, but it turned out that getting fired from Apple was the best thing that could have ever happened to me. The heaviness of being successful was replaced by the lightness of being a beginner again, less sure about everything. It freed me to enter one of the most creative periods in my life. During the next five years I started a company named NeXT, another company named Pixar and fell in love with an amazing woman who would become my wife. Pixar went on to create the world’s first computer-animated feature film, “Toy Story,” and is now the most successful animation studio in the world.

In a remarkable turn of events, Apple bought NeXT and I returned to Apple and the technology we developed at NeXT is at the heart of Apple’s current renaissance, and Lorene and I have a wonderful family together.

I’m pretty sure none of this would have happened if I hadn’t been fired from Apple. It was awful-tasting medicine but I guess the patient needed it. Sometimes life’s going to hit you in the head with a brick. Don’t lose faith. I’m convinced that the only thing that kept me going was that I loved what I did. You’ve got to find what you love, and that is as true for work as it is for your lovers. Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work, and the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking, and don’t settle. As with all matters of the heart, you’ll know when you find it, and like any great relationship it just gets better and better as the years roll on. So keep looking. Don’t settle.

My third story is about death.

When I was 17 I read a quote that went something like “If you live each day as if it was your last, someday you’ll most certainly be right.” It made an impression on me, and since then, for the past 33 years, I have looked in the mirror every morning and asked myself, “If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?” And whenever the answer has been “no” for too many days in a row, I know I need to change something. Remembering that I’ll be dead soon is the most important thing 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.

About a year ago, I was diagnosed with cancer. I had a scan at 7:30 in the morning and it clearly showed a tumor on my pancreas. I didn’t even know what a pancreas was. The doctors told me this was almost certainly a type of cancer that is incurable, and that I should expect to live no longer than three to six months. My doctor advised me to go home and get my affairs in order, which is doctors’ code for “prepare to die.” It means to try and tell your kids everything you thought you’d have the next ten years to tell them, in just a few months. It means to make sure that everything is buttoned up so that it will be as easy as possible for your family. It means to say your goodbyes.

I lived with that diagnosis all day. Later that evening I had a biopsy where they stuck an endoscope down my throat, through my stomach into my intestines, put a needle into my pancreas and got a few cells from the tumor. I was sedated but my wife, who was there, told me that when they viewed the cells under a microscope, the doctor started crying, because it turned out to be a very rare form of pancreatic cancer that is curable with surgery. I had the surgery and, thankfully, I am fine now.

This was the closest I’ve been to facing death, and I hope it’s the closest I get for a few more decades. Having lived through it, I can now say this to you with a bit more certainty than when death was a useful but purely intellectual concept. No one wants to die, even people who want to go to Heaven don’t want to die to get there, and yet, death is the destination we all share. No one has ever escaped it. And that is as it should be, because death is very likely the single best invention of life. It’s life’s change agent; it clears out the old to make way for the new. right now, the new is you. But someday, not too long from now, you will gradually become the old and be cleared away. Sorry to be so dramatic, but it’s quite true. 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, heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.

When I was young, there was an amazing publication called The Whole Earth Catalogue, which was one of the bibles of my generation. It was created by a fellow named Stuart Brand not far from here in Menlo Park, and he brought it to life with his poetic touch. This was in the late Sixties, before personal computers and desktop publishing, so it was all made with typewriters, scissors, and Polaroid cameras. it was sort of like Google in paperback form thirty-five years before Google came along. I was idealistic, overflowing with neat tools and great notions. Stuart and his team put out several issues of the The Whole Earth Catalogue, and then when it had run its course, they put out a final issue. It was the mid-Seventies and I was your age. On the back cover of their final issue was a photograph of an early morning country road, the kind you might find yourself hitchhiking on if you were so adventurous. Beneath were the words, “Stay hungry, stay foolish.” It was their farewell message as they signed off. “Stay hungry, stay foolish.” And I have always wished that for myself, and now, as you graduate to begin anew, I wish that for you. Stay hungry, stay foolish.

Thank you all, very much.

On the other hand, my experience also tells me that even a developed country has its own problems. In my 13 months in the UK, I’ve seen……

1. misuse of public funds
Just earlier this year several members of parliaments were caught misusing taxpayers’ money for personal purposes, e.g. paying own loan’s instalment and buying own cars. Some of them made public apologies. Some resigned. Some returned the money.

2. over-commercialisation
Almost everything are franchised, even convenience stores. Whichever city i went to within the UK, I saw the same stores. Hardly can see any shop that exists on its own. On the contrary, in Malaysia in each city / town you will get certain shops that are famous for something locally, e.g. food. Lack of variety & creativity is one thing, but it makes staying in a city loses its appeal. If not because of UK’s ability to preserve their historical buildings and promote purpose-built tourism sites, I think all UK cities will look identical in alot of ways. It makes the cities losing their ‘warmth’ to certain extent.

3. very little greens.
Probably due to the weather or a result of previous industrialisation. There are very little trees / forest areas like what I have seen here. Also, food wise, choices of vegetables are very limited, becasuse of what happened in No 4 below.

4. people giving up on agriculture as a source of living.
You can hardly find any fresh food market anywhere in the UK nowadays. If there are, they open only once a week during weekends.  There is this ex-farmer that I got to talk to, who now grows grasses on his farm to be sold as cattle food. He said when he was young there were lots of markets where farmers brought their produces to sell (like our pasars). However, more and more hypermarkets drove them out of business, not only by direct competition but through ‘dirty tricks’ as he described – these hypermarkets first bought the farmer’s produces by contract, then pushed them to minimise the prices while demanding an increase in production. Because these hypermarkets are much more resourceful, they always manage to get fresh food from somewhere else and can afford to sell them at low prices. This leaves the local farmers with no market (no choice) but to succumb to the hypermarket’s demand. As far as i know, UK is now a net importer of vegetables, and consumers have little choice on fresh food and have to get most things from those hypermarkets. This probably explains why they are expensive in the country. Looking at the mushrooming of hypermarkets in Malaysia within 1 year,  i’m starting to get worried too…sighhh…

5. heaps of  alcohol misuse problem.
Alcohol misuse is great issue in the UK, especially among youngsters. Imagine local government putting up posters at bus stops to remind their youngsters (particularly girls) not to walk back alone after drinking at night, it’s THAT prevalent. Worse still, they don’t think it is an issue. Although some of them do, but still drink anyway.
During weekends you can see tonnes of people flooding pubs and clubs. Some of those who are drunk will just lie sleeping on the street. A local friend said weekends are the busiest for hospitals because there are often cases of alcohol-related injuries or acute diseases. And yeah, because of that ambulance sirens are common on weekends. The government has been trying to correct this by e.g. increasing the price of alcohol but faces strong objections from the public, including students, as alcohols are so ingrained in the people’s culture. Malaysians are somehow very sensitive towards the word ‘alchol’ and often associate it with Islam. Well, alcohol is not just related to Islam culture.

6. high tax.
Could never imagine myself paying a double digit of tax. Friends working there told me that income tax alone is about 20%, + some other form of taxes, almost 30% are  gone from your monthly income. Of course, you get to enjoy social benefits but you would better pray that the government would use it wisely. I believe high taxes are what allows the UK to become a ‘nanny’ state.

Of course, the list of problems can go on and on, some of which I did and do not really apprehend.

But they do tell me one thing: staying in a developed country doesnt equal to staying in an ideal society which will be free from e.g. social ills, bad politics, etc.

Those people who idolizes living in the western society so much
& choose to migrate seem slightly irrational now.

While those who always criticised and call the country irreparable
without actually doing something to correct the situation seem very shallow now.

If we think the place we are living in is bad in this and that,
what have we done to change it,
besides running away and just crying with no action?

Of course, everybody has their own limited capacity, but if most people choose to play their own small parts, our society can be a much better place to live in.

In the past, I doubt normal citizens like us have little role to play in the society. Several things I have encountered and several people I have met in the past months after returning from the UK change my mind.

Time flies. Been almost 2 month since I left the UK.

The 13 months had allowed me to experience things that I never dreamt of, in a country where many people look up to.

From my experience, in the UK, or at least in Glasgow, Scotland:
1. People are genuinely friendly and polite.
Go on any street and you can see alot of smiling faces. Whenever people talk to you, they always greet you with ‘Good morning’, ‘Heyya’, ‘How r you?’, even cashiers in supermarket, rather than the cold, serious face I used to get and not just the price scanner’s ‘beep beep’ sounds I used to hear. Some people think these are rather shallow but to me, it makes me feel comfortable.

2. The government and authorities are liberal.
Demonstrations can be held as long as they are peaceful. I have not only seen public demonstrations but also demonstrations by students. Strathclyde Student Union protested against the Principal just outside his office building for his decision to sell off the Student Union’s building without their permission. Government’s accounts are published and allowed to be scrutinised by anyone in the public. Anyone has the right to view government’s account. In addition, the ruling government funds the opposition to do research to come out with policies to compete against that of the ruling party.

3. The government is protective ‘nanny’ over its citizens.
There is a minimum wage of £5.60/hour for all jobs within the country, a reason why so many people are flooding the UK. Also there is this National Health Service (NHS) that covers healthcare of almost the whole population under most circumstances. You dont need to pay to see doctors / specialists; you only pay for the drugs, at subsidized price. You get free medical attention through NHS24 whenever you feel unwell at odd hours. Almost all clinics / pharmacies / hospitals are contracted to government; no worries about not being able to pay for healthcare. Tertiary education is free for locals.

4. Enforcement is more impartial.
I’ve seen opposition party rallying along the street, with the police officers ‘rallying’ together with them, following them along their procession line.

5. People (in general) are more environmental friendly.
Degradable plastic bags are used in most major supermarkets. Consumers are encouraged to reuse plastic bags / use green shopping bags. There are always recycle bins in vicinity, provided by Glasgow City Council.

6. People (in general) are proud of their heritage, culture and history.
Museums are one of the favourite places for families, always have sections that cater for children / youngsters. Imagine fashion shows, organ performance and tea in a museum. The museums here are so alive. Buildings / historical sites with good heritage values are kept and maintained, well. Tour guides are almost found in all tourist cities, and you can always expect free ones, who are professional enough to give you detailed stories about the city’s background and its past. There are places to learn about own history / origin if one wants to.

7. The public transport (in general) are reliable.
There is hardly any delay / cancellation of train / bus in cities and one always get to plan his / her journey in advanced.

9. Healthcare professionals are more willing to listen to patients.
Doctors / pharmacists really spend time talking to patients and understanding them without rushing to a diagnosis / selling a drug.

9. People (in general) are more concerned / aware about what’s going on in the society, even among youngsters.

10. There is less discrimination in the society.
Law protects everyone from being discriminated against, by gender, race and religion.

11. People drive more cautiously.
Vehicle drivers would stop / slow down to allow pedestrians to cross first when some people are jaywalking. Less honks in the road.

And of course, the list can grow much longer. Now thinking back, it makes me wonder.

Are these what I think all countries should emulate?

Is this the ideal society that everybody should live in?

If yes, can and will my country become something like this in the future?

If yes, what can I do to contribute to this change?