My Featured Journal Entries
What if everyone over the age of 30 suddenly died in an apocalypse? I don't pretend to be a soothe sayer so don't take heed to the question I present. Like all things my mind first goes to business when I hear this question. I think to myself what major companies would completely go under. Would all their trade secrets and art forms be lost? Would Apple computers cease to exist? Would Italian leather shops be abandoned? We may never know but I would like to think that these institutions would be taken up by the below 30 workers that have the skills. I have hope because of institutions like Apple computers. Despite the fact that the genius behind the designs, creativity, and direction of the company, Steve Jobs, passed away in 2011 his legacy continues to inspire software equivalent to his innovative spirit. His success continued to the next generation of iPhone and Apple products because he taught those under him about his vision and success. I think this is exactly what CEO is preparing us for, not an apocalypse I assure you, but the eventuality that we will have to leave behind or take up a legacy. Each entrepreneur that enters into to our "classrooms" and each business we tour gives us tools to pick up that legacy. The business people that generously give us life lessons and keys to success are actually leaving us little bits of their legacy. There is nothing more valuable than knowledge and those involved in CEO teach us that again and again. The advice we receive from them greatly affect our decisions in class. Recently we've had to revamp a class business idea to fit our community better at the counsel of the business professionals in the area. It was a hard decision to come to terms with but we recognized the validity of their reasoning and their experience. They were passing on a piece of their legacy so we wouldn't end up making the same mistakes they did. Everyday I try to keep this in mind. When I go to class I imagine the speaker is traveling back in time to tell me an extremely important lesson I'll need in my future endeavors. And who knows someday there may be an apocalypse and I'll remember the things they said to begin my legacy.
"Technology is nothing. What's important is that you have faith in people, that they're basically good and smart, and if you give them the tools, they'll do wonderful things with them." ~Steve Jobs
01/29/2017
Inside I'm freaking out!!! What am I going to do with my life! And it doesn't help that all of these adults keep reminding you of this invisible or not so invisible deadline to decide your future. The stress was getting to me. Until my parents were assigned some homework. I know, I know, Parents getting homework? It's odd but that's exactly what my AP Lit teacher decided to do. We are currently working our way through the play Hamlet by William Shakespeare. In Hamlet, Laertes is about to go off to college, his Father, Polonius, issues him some advice before he leaves. He tells him to keep his old friends, not to borrow or lend money, and finally to be true to oneself. My parents homework was to write a letter giving me advice before I leave next fall for college. When this assignment was presented to my class, my friend Allyssa said that I would cry when I read mine. I was a little offended because I'm not an emotional person. She corrected herself and said that I wouldn't cry at a letter from my parents, but one from my sisters would make me ball. I agreed with her, because it's true I would cry if my sisters received this assignment instead of my parents. So life went on and when we all opened our letters in class I was surprised to find not one but four letters in my envelope. One from my mom, and the other three from my older sisters. Allyssa was definitely right, I balled my eyes out. Just in the time it took to read these four short letters I was immediately calmed about the stress of picking the perfect college. In their letters they highlighted my talents, my weaknesses, and gave me confidence on what I was about to set out to do. I know now that it doesn't matter if I pick the perfect college because nothing is perfect. It doesn't even matter if I succeed at what I want to do. It only matters that I have a drive To Do. Do something, be someone, learn anything, experience everything. I have to use a quote from one my letters because it touched me and I hope it calms you in whatever endeavors face you. "Your whole life is a continuous creation. Present it to the world." ~ Matalyn Vander Bleek "Not all are called to be artists in the specific sense of the term...all men and women are entrusted with the task of crafting their own life: in a certain sense, they are to make of it a work of art, a masterpiece."~ Saint Pope John Paul II.
10/30/2016