Original: /p/bb3ca7059747
I am honored to attend the graduation ceremony of one of the best universities in the world with you today. To tell the truth, I have never graduated from college. This is the closest I have ever graduated from college. Today I want to tell you three stories in my life. That's it. No big deal. Just three stories.
Today, I am honored to attend your graduation ceremony. Stanford University is one of the best universities in the world. I didn't graduate from college. To be honest, today may be the closest day for me to graduate from college in my life. Today I want to tell you three stories in my life. It's no big deal, just three stories.
The first story is about connection points.
The first story is that the bits and pieces in life are connected.
After the first six months, I dropped out of Reed College, but before I really dropped out, I stayed as an observer for about 18 months. Then why did I drop out of school?
I dropped out of Reed University after six months, but after eighteen months-before I really decided to drop out, I often went to school. So why did I drop out of school?
It started before I was born. My biological mother is a young unmarried university graduate student, and she decided to let others adopt me. She strongly believed that I should be adopted by college graduates, so I was adopted by a lawyer and his wife as soon as I was born. Except when I was born, they decided at the last minute that they really wanted a girl.
The story begins when I was born. My biological mother is a young unmarried graduate student. She decided to let others adopt me. She really wants me to be adopted by college graduates. So when I was born, she had made all the preparations, and I would be adopted by a couple of lawyers. But what she didn't expect was that when I was born, the lawyer and his wife suddenly decided that they wanted a girl.
So my parents, who were on a waiting list, received a phone call in the middle of the night and asked, "We have an unexpected baby boy;" Do you want him? " They said, "Of course." My biological mother later found out that my mother never graduated from college and my father never graduated from high school. She refused to sign the final adoption papers. A few months later, when my parents promised that I would go to college one day, she agreed.
So my adoptive parents (on the waiting list) suddenly received a phone call in the middle of the night: "We have a baby boy here, and our biological parents can't raise him. Do you want him? " They replied, "Of course!" But my biological mother later found out that my adoptive mother didn't graduate from college and my father didn't even graduate from high school. She refused to sign the adoption contract. Only a few months later, my parents promised her that I would go to college, and then she agreed.
17 years later, I really went to college. But I naively chose a university almost as expensive as Stanford, and all my working-class parents' savings were spent on my college tuition. After six months, I don't see the value. I don't know what I want to do in my life, and I don't know how the university will help me find the answer.
At seventeen, I really went to college. But I foolishly chose a school that is almost as expensive as your Stanford University, and my parents are only blue-collar, and my tuition almost spent all their savings. After half a year, I can't see its value. I don't know what I want to do in my life, and I don't know how the university can help me find the answer.
I spent all my parents' life savings here. So I decided to drop out of school and believe that everything will be fine. It was terrible at the time, but in retrospect, it was one of the best decisions I made. From the moment I drop out of school, I can stop taking compulsory courses that I am not interested in and start listening to those classes that look interesting.
But here, I almost spent all my parents' life savings. So I decided to drop out of school, and I believe everything will be fine. I was really scared at that time, but in retrospect, it was really the best decision I made in my life. At the moment I dropped out of school, I finally didn't have to take classes that I wasn't interested in at all, and then I could take classes that looked interesting.
It's not romantic. I didn't have a dormitory, so I slept on the floor of my friend's room. I returned the coke bottle to 5 pounds? Save money to buy food. I will walk seven miles across town every Sunday night and have a weekly meal at Hare Krishna Temple. I like it. Many things I put into following my curiosity and intuition turned out to be priceless. Let me give you an example:
But the truth is not so romantic. I don't have a dormitory, so I can only sleep on the floor of my friend's room. I picked up coke bottles and sold them at a fifth price, so that I could have some money to buy food. Every Sunday night, I will walk seven miles to the Hare Krishna Temple at the other end of the city, where I can have the only full meal every week. I like communication. I followed my intuition and curiosity, and met many things, which proved to be priceless later. Let me give you an example:
At that time, the calligraphy teaching provided by Reed College was probably the best in the country. Every poster in the whole campus and every label on every drawer are beautifully handwritten. Because I have dropped out of school and don't have to take normal classes, I decided to take calligraphy classes and learn how to do it.
At that time, Reed University offered the best calligraphy course in America. In this university, every poster and every label in every drawer is beautiful handwritten calligraphy. Because I dropped out of school and didn't have to take those formal courses, I decided to take this course and learn how to write beautiful calligraphy.
I learned serif fonts and tri-serif fonts, the change of spacing between different letter combinations, and what makes great typesetting great. This is a beauty, historical and artistic delicacy that science cannot capture, and I find it fascinating.
I learned san serif and serif fonts, how to change the length of spaces in different letter combinations, and how to make the best printing style. This is a beautiful and historic artistic exquisiteness that science can never capture. I think it is really wonderful.
These have no hope of any practical application in my life. But ten years later, when we designed the first Macintosh, I remembered everything. We designed all this into the Mac. This is the first computer with beautiful fonts. If I hadn't taken that single course in college, the Mac computer wouldn't have multiple fonts or fonts arranged in proportion.
At that time, none of these things seemed to have any practical application possibility in my life. But ten years later, when we were designing the first Macintosh, I remembered. I designed all the guys I learned at that time into the Mac. That was the first computer that used beautiful printed fonts. If I had never taken that course in college, Macintosh computers would not have multiple fonts or properly separated fonts.
Since Windows just copied the Mac, it is likely that no personal computer will have them. If I hadn't dropped out of school, I wouldn't have sat in on this calligraphy class, and personal computers might not have such beautiful fonts. Of course, when I was in college, it was impossible to connect the dots in the future. But looking back ten years later, it is very, very clear.
Because Microsoft copied the Mac computer, it is very likely that these will not be available on personal computers. If I hadn't dropped out of school, I wouldn't have sat in on this calligraphy class, and personal computers wouldn't have magical font designs like they do now. Of course, when I was in college, it was impossible for me to connect these dots in the future, but looking back ten years later, I really suddenly realized.
Again, you can't look forward and connect the dots; You have to look back to connect them. So you must believe that these points will be connected in some way in your future. You must believe in something-your intuition, destiny, life, karma and so on. This method has never let me down, it has made my life completely different.
Again, you can't connect the fragments of the future; You can only connect the dots when you look back. So you must believe that these fragments will be connected in some way one day in the future. You must believe in something: your courage, your destiny, your life, what goes around comes around, and so on. This method has never let me down, it just makes my life more different.