Stay hungry. Stay foolish.

I have made it a habit to "blog hop" (to go on clicking "Next Blog" button on Blogspot in order to visit random Bloggers from all over the world). I read through the things if they aren't too long and if I don't understand the language, I just look at the pictures. Then I try to drop a comment if there's something to say. A "You have a very beautiful daughter" on a family picture or a "That looks very interesting" on an article sometimes makes a difference in a blogger's day.

Just a while ago as I was blog hopping, I came across a Japanese-English blog and it had a picture of Steve Jobs - whom I didn't recognize because I wasn't familiar with his face at all, only with his reputation. The post was about a speech he made during the 2005 Graduation in Standford, which I had to search on Google to read the whole thing.

Steve Jobs said he would share three stories, and for some reason, none of the stories he told stuck...only the lessons behind them, which shows in a very, very plain manner how brilliant a man he is.

The three lessons that he actually delivered:
1. Connecting the dots.

You can't connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards.

He spoke about how if you follow your heart, you'd always be on the right track although you'd never know you WERE on the right track until you've passed it.

2. Don't settle. Keep looking until you find it. Don't settle.
Steve Jobs spoke about how someone's job is a big part of his/her life and that we should keep on pursuing what our life interests are until we're sure. I particularly liked how he reiterated "Don't settle" because it stressed how important it is to keep on looking.

3. Stay hungry. Stay foolish.

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.

This last item is what really struck me, "stay hungry, stay foolish" and "don't live someone else's life". I think it's a very noble life philosophy and it's also very difficult to live up to.

"Don't live someone else's life" was the best statement in the whole speech. We all try to live up to people's expectations and we all say to our selves that meeting those expectations would lead us to become the best of us, but would it really? Our families, our parents, know us best, but that's only in comparison against other people, and not against us. No one knows us better than ourselves and no one better knows how we could be truly happy.

"Don't be trapped by dogma" struck me religiously. I know too many people who follow their faiths blindly. You ask them why they do it and they tell you it's because "the Church said so". The Church says those things as "strong suggestions" and our actions should always be accordign to what our conscience dictates. The Church provides a religious point of view on issues for us to keep our conscience more informed and to therefore make better decisions - but we are not compelled to follow unless our consciene dictates us so. Reference: St. Thomas Acquinas on Conscience.

I also know that there are certain rituals that I follow and certain points of view that I take because I don't trust my own judgment although my gut feeling nags me to do otherwise. I am, however, certain of one thing: before the gates of St. Peter, I would be a fool to say that I have lived how I lived because I was told to do so.