STAY HUNGER

STAY FOOLISH

I’m honored to be with you today for your commencement. I want to tell you three stories from my life.

The first story is about connecting the dots. When I was at Reed College, it offered perhaps the best calligraphy instruction in the country. I decided to take a calligraphy class. At that time none of what I learned about calligraphy seemed to have 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. Of course it was impossible to connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future.

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. And then at thirty, I got fired. But something slowly began to dawn on me — I still love what I did. And so I decided to start over. During the next five years, I started a company named NeXT. In a remarkable turn of events, Apple bought NeXT, and I returned to Apple. I’m convinced that the only thing that kept me going was that I loved what I did. So, if you haven’t found what you love, 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.” About a year ago I was diagnosed with cancer. My doctor advised me to go home and get my affairs in order, which is doctor’s code for “prepare to die”. Later it turned out to be curable with surgery. I had the surgery and, thankfully, I am fine now. This was the closest I’ve been to facing death. Having lived through it, I can now say this to you: Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life.

When I was young, there was an amazing publication called the Whole Earth Catalog. On the back cover of the final issue were the words: “Stay hungry. Stay foolish.” It was their farewell message as they signed off. And I have always wished that for myself. And now, as you graduate to begin new, I wish that for you. Stay hungry. Stay foolish.

Thank you all very much.

We find the owl at the very edge of our woods the morning after the storm. Wings flight-frozen and round eyes glassy. I touch its feathers lightly with my fingertip and I’m surprised because they still feel real even though the owl has slipped away somewhere else and Dad is already digging a hole for it in the rain-soaked earth.

I lift its body and it’s huge in my hands but the hollow bones do most of the work for me and I almost think the owl might shake the stiffness from its feathers and fly away. I really don’t think this one should go into a hole in the ground. I say that to Dad and he says that it’s the circle of life and that now the owl will become part of nature again. Feeding the soil with its flesh and growing the roots of plants from its feathers.

Dad shifts the last of the dirt with his spade and sits down at the base of a tree with a huff of air that smokes around him. I put the bird in the hole and mark it with a smooth pebble so I’ll always know.

After we’ve buried the owl, we walk all around the woods and clear the worst of the damage from the winds and the rain. The damage isn’t as bad as it’s been before and it feels like the storm has cleaned everything back to being new and fresh. I use my hawk eyes and search the ground in flicks and sweeps and I find treasures in the rain-raked earth just like always. Pieces of pottery and something that could be a Roman coin. I slip them into my pocket and they bump against each other to tell their stories to me, but I’ll listen later.

I help Dad load the best of the fallen branches on to the trailer so we can cut them for fire wood or maybe a bonfire, and then we drive over the muddy paths and back to our house.

Signs That You Are Growing

Growing is a lifelong process. Here are the signs that show that you are actually growing and not getting stuck in the process.

【小题1】

Often, we see how badly people look when they get overly upset due to unimportant things. So the first sign of maturity (成熟) is letting the small things go and not getting angry over a tiny detail that didn’t go as you planned.

You start forgiving and understanding other people

When we are young, we are often unforgiving. As we mature, we are better able to understand the world beyond black and white. 【小题2】. It enables us to look beyond the obvious and let go of simple judgments. We begin to understand better that others have complex (复杂的) lives and personalities, and so we become more willing to forgive their mistakes.

You always complete things that matter

Immature people don’t know when to commit (承诺) themselves and their energy or resources are always not well employed. 【小题3】. In this way, they can often keep their promises and honor their commitments.

You accept the possibility of being wrong

【小题4】. They are always able to accept the possibility that they are wrong, that they don’t know something, because there is always more to learn.

Being mature is knowing that you are always growing up. You are never done learning and developing. This means that you don’t set yourself up as the highest authority. 【小题5】.