Jobs Commencement Speech

Jobs' speech relates to religion and values in a few ways. Relating it to religion, Jobs tells a story about how he dropped out of college. He says he did not know at the time if it was going to work out, but he had faith that all the dots would connect and he would make something for himself. He had no idea that dropping into a calligraphy class would help him in the future, and in the moment he had no idea how it would, but he believed in himself and had faith it would work out. This relates to religion because you cannot see religion, there is nothing in the current moment that reminds you of religion, or a higher power is there, at least this is true for me. Even though there is no proof, you have to believe that is there. You have faith in it, like Jobs had in himself, even when he had no idea where his life was going to take him.

Relating his speech to values, he values life. He explained how everyday he woke up and asked himself if he happened to die today, would he be happy with how he spent his day, and if he answered no too many days in a row, he would do something to change that. This shows that he valued his life and understood the importance of it. Jobs also valued good work. He explained during his speech that you do good work by doing what you love. If you do not love what you do, you will not be good at it. This shows that he understands accomplishing something wonderful involves passion. Being passionate about something means you must enjoy it. And if you enjoy something, you must be living a good life, and that is what he wanted these students to get from his speech. That life is too short to do something you are not passionate about. He wants these adults to find what the enjoy doing and do it, do it as best as they can. Because if they can do that, they will wake up everyday valuing their lives and the happiness they have around them.

I have never heard this speech before class today, and I think it is extremely powerful. It moved me, as I am sure it moved all the adults there. He explains how their life is in their own hands, and with faith and hard work, they can do anything, but they need to focus on the important things. He mentions how they are not given an infinite amount of time on earth, and I believe that is used to get them motivated to start their futures now, and make the most of it. I know it made me want to.