Richard Mouw wonders who gave the best advice to college graduates: Steve Jobs or David Brooks.
Steve Jobs told students at Stanford University: “Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life.”
David Brooks, the New York Times columnist, told students: “It’s not about you.”
When push comes to shove, Mouw leans toward Brooks. How about you?
I think our generation needs to hear Brook's message. We don't have a problem with living our own life. That's my opinion however.
I think Job's message would be really applicable to the generation of the 50's. What do you think?
Steve Jobs, by a country mile, because he told a stadium full of young people the last thing that would occur to them but the first thing they need to remember: time is short, and no matter what you do, you're going to die.
Knowing this is freeing. If there's nothing I can do to keep death at bay, and if no matter what I do the end is the same, then I can be fearless, take risks.
Better to start thinking in these terms at the age of 20 or 25 than wait until your 50s. Because even if you make it to your 90s, which sounds as old as dirt, you are going to look back and wonder where the time went.
The aged and the terminally ill don't need to get that memo — they know it well enough. It's the stadium full of young, bright, already successful people in the full strength and vigor of life who are most likely to overlook the single most salient fact of our existence: it ends.
So, memento mori FTW.
Clarification: When I said it would be applicable to the generation of the 50s, I was thinking of a speaker talking to somebody graduating in the 50s. Not necessarily about them needing to hear that message today. Sorry for the confusion.
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