When visiting “Perfectly Blended,” the other day, I came across a great quote by Steve Jobs and promptly copied and pasted it on the shrinkrapping blog that we started at the college. My hope was that students and other interested readers would be prompted to more fully embrace life and go after their dreams regardless of cost or consequence. Here’s the quote:
“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 other’s 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.”
~Steve Jobs
This morning I listened to The Preacher and the Presidents on CD, a neat and efficient way to “read” books while I’m driving, driving, driving to and from work. I’m enjoying learning more about this phenomenal evangelist and man of God. The young Graham started out at Bob Jones University in Greenville, SC but didn’t stay there too long. While he was always upright, he was never self-righteous, and the overly strict rules were too much for him to adhere to. For instance, he said that even after a person got permission to date another, the couple couldn’t even sit on the same sofa. When the young student decided to transfer to a college in Florida, he went to see Dr. Jones to tell him of his plans. Surprisingly, Dr. Jones told Billy Graham that he was a failure and that he’d never amount to anything! Despite feelilng dejected, the future evangelist was resolute in his decision and left for Florida.
When I heard that, I had to go back to the beginning of the track to make sure I’d heard correctly. Billy Graham a failure???? I’m just glad that he didn’t listen to the stinging, cruel words of the college founder and president. If he had, just think what kings, presidents, and the rest of us would have missed out on.
While we can’t all be Billy Graham, we can all follow his example and have the courage and boldness to follow our dreams despite the naysayers in our lives. It’s YOUR life, not your mother’s, your friend’s, your spouse’s, or your children’s. LIVE it.
mom's musings 
The quote from Steve Jobs came from this speech at Stanford’s commencement. http://youtube.com/watch?v=D1R-jKKp3NA
The students didn’t realize how important what he was really telling him was. I would highly recommend watching the whole speech.
Amen! As usual your posts are dead on!
in my blog i just mentioned obama’s wonderful race talk, and immediately got 21 responses negative some, and made me realize others aren’t me at all, even my own son, we can feel exactly like we feel and still be ok..i don’t have to be a conservtive to be lds, and i can live in utah without being for our present war
Hayden, Thanks for the info. I’ll have to check this out. About the students not really “getting” the importance of what he was saying, I can well believe that. I work with young people everyday, and while I love it, many of them don’t truly grasp the idea that THIS IS THEIR LIFE and that they won’t be living forever.
Connie, Now if I could only do more of “walking the talk….”
Barlow, Thanks for stopping by and commenting. I can’t find your blog. Help!
Have you seen it yet? :dances in anticipation:
barlowputz.blogspot.com
Hayden, YES. I saw it last night, and I plan to watch the video again so that I can take notes. Yes, that’s a generational thing (taking notes), I guess. I particularly like the last part when he was talking about death and advised the graduates to stay hungry and foolish. What a gifted man! Thanks for the sending the link.
Barlow, I made a comment on your blog, but I show up as Jayne. Since I’m not a blogspot blogger, I’m not sure how to do this, but I know there’s a way to allow bloggers from others areas (like wordpress).