stay foolish

Yesterday, my wife informed me that Steve Jobs died. She knew that I admired Steve. He was a visionary and a fighter.

On his battle with cancer Steve said, “My doctor advised me to go home and get my affairs in order, which is doctor's code for prepare to die. It means to try to tell your kids everything you thought you'd have the next 10 years to tell them in just a few months. It means to make sure everything is buttoned up so that it will be as easy as possible for your family. It means to say your goodbyes."

As Steve waged a war with cancer he never lost a trait, which I admire the most: fiery romanticism. In a speech Steve said,  “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…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. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.”

Society is combative with people who dare to walk differently, speak differently, and think differently. Yet, we should have the courage to stray from the well-worn path. There is more danger in endlessly cloning the ideas than forming new ideas, regardless of the claims of foolishness.  So let’s be foolish. Let’s experiment. Let’s shoulder the risk of failure taking paths that others ignore.

On fools and the foolhardy Steve said, “Stewart and his team put out several issues of The Whole Earth Catalog, and then when it had run its course, they put out a final issue. It was the mid-1970s, 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 it 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.”

I like to end with this: think different.