3 tales

Recently I read Steve Jobs address at Stanford. It got me thinking, what would I say if I were to give an address like that? Why not a speech to my juniors? This is what I came up with (quite obviously I was influenced by what I read):

Good morning everyone.

Seeing you all here makes me quite happy. I have been asked to speak in front of you and, honestly, I have no idea what advice I can give you. I am not even close to being the model student, forget a model human being. So I am going to tell you three stories:

The first story happened years ago. A boy not very different from you decided to try for engineering. He studied hours on end, preparing for the fateful examination. He didn't go for any form of coaching or special tuition. But when the results came, he cracked the exam with quite respectable marks. People were all quite astonished. His brother understood the message. Determination will get you places. But the boy's brother didn't follow that message. He didn't follow what he knew was right. So that is the moral of this story: Knowing the right thing is useless if you don't follow through. 

The second story is about pride. This story begins with the FIFA World Cup. A boy supported four teams, but on the fateful day when Germany played against Brazil, he was on the side of the Brazillians. As the first goal came into the net, then the second, then the third, he kept wondering what was going on, stunned by what he had thought impossible. Eventually the fifth came, and the sixth. By the time the seventh goal was netted the boy cam across a message: Pride will bring even the strongest crashing down.

The third story is about funerals. A girl ( I don't want to be a chauvinist) once went to a funeral. She noticed how many people cried for the death of their beloved friend and relative. But as she grew up she saw people on their deathbeds asking loved ones not to cry. The greatest surprise was when she saw people crying for the death of truly bad people. She learned three things: a)Funerals are for the living, not the dead. b)No man is truly evil and c) a single tear shed on a man's grave can wash away more sins than a hundred confessions.

So my advice to you is this. Live, don't just survive. Find out the right thing, and follow it. Follow your heart. Always strive to keep pride far away. Love freely, get your heart broken. Break the rules, because it's better you break them than you let them break you. Find a cause and fight for it. Above all, live in such a way, that every tear that falls on your grave comes from a heart you touched. 

To all who heard me out patiently, you're awesome. And to all of you who are sleeping after my boring speech, sweet dreams. You're awesome too. Thank you.