Steve Jobs (written on October 6)

Today, I re-watched a speech by Steve Jobs that he made during the 2005 commencement ceremony at Stanford University. It is an absolutely brilliant speech. It's only fifteen minutes long, but what he said was extremely inspiring. Here's a quote from the speech that particularly impacted me:

"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 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." (http://news.stanford.edu/news/2005/june15/jobs-061505.html)

Wow. It takes a little for the weight and the power of those words to settle in. If I were to die tomorrow, what would I do today? It's a really thought-provoking question. It really makes you think about what you want to do in life and what you value. It's also a difficult question for me to answer, because I really don't know much about what I want to do in life. I only know that I want to be happy. I want to love the world. I want to share something with the world. I want to make a difference, because I feel like that would make my life successful.

On that note, I'll conclude this journal entry. I realize that it isn't very long, but it has a lot of abstract concepts that I need to think about. I need to live a worthwhile left- it seems like it's some sort of unsaid duty I have to fulfill. Something else to think about.

Thank you, Steve Jobs, for posing questions that will riddle my mind for the rest of my life. Thank you for inspiring me and so many others to do great things. You will be remembered.

-Cora