OLPD 2811: Societies of the Future Elvis Nyasani University of Minnesota 13 September 2021 The Steve Jobs commencement speech and the “Allegory of Baseball Broadcast booth” were two resources that provided me with some great insight on how I can think of my life and career goals. Steve Jobs is known to be one of the most influential people in technology. Through the invention of user-friendly technology which has had profound effects on how we all utilize technology now. I found the stories he gave at his speech very interesting as they all related to him following his dreams while also emphasizing on certain factors that pushed him forward. He joked about not completing college, which ended up being one of the best decisions he ever made. The main reason he did this was because he lacked the funds for tuition but also the fact that he had the freedom to choose materials he was interested in and study that instead. He was fueled by curiosity and intuition. As he said this, I began reflecting on how the evolution of technology has made it so much easier for me to access resources I find intriguing. Just this summer I was looking at free courses offered online for coding. This is an example of how I can use resources I have to chase my dreams and passions. And now that I am in college utilizing the resources, I am given is extremely important in my career path. Moving on to Streeter’s article, The Allegory of Baseball Broadcast Booth gives the story of Donny Baarns, a hardworking baseball announcer who went through ups and downs as he tried to achieve his dreams. Similar to the zeal that Jobs had, Baarns never gave up making it to the major league baseball broadcasts, however, he got to a point where he realized he was spending too much time pouring his heart out for a job and not paying attention to how fast life is moving; “That’s when I would love to come home to a family” (Streeter, 2018). From this, I learned that despite having goals and passions, it’s very important to think about other interests and important things in life, such as family and hobbies that can sustain some of our happiness. I have gotten to speak to people who have been in corporate jobs, and some have mentioned how stressful their job can be, making them prioritize that and forget about important things in life. Nonetheless, what we end up doing should be something we love; this was a common theme from both stories. As Steve Jobs said, “The only way to do great work is to do what you love, keep looking don’t settle”. Doing what you love makes it easier because it helps with ambition and drive. It makes it simpler to devote yourself to doing the best you can to yield great results. And lastly, Streeter highlights an important quote from Baarns, “But that doesn’t mean necessarily it is going to turn out the way you want it to. I’ve come to accept that. I’ve come to see I can be happy with that fact.” Here Baarns is talking about how he never got to his full potential and achieve his dreams of being in the major league. However, he is still glad he had all the experience and chances to reach the point he was at. He had accepted that the results didn’t turn out the way he had wanted them to. So, this emphasizes on the importance of accepting circumstances. Not everything in life will pan out the way we want it to but having the ability to stick with what we have at the moment can be crucial to showing our strength to persevere. While I think this is true, I like to think, is life dependent on what we make it to be? or is life heavily dependent on our circumstances? Works cited Steve Jobs Stanford Commencement Speech 2005, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VHWUCX6osgM Streeter, Kurt. New York Times (Online), New York: New York Times Company. Jun 6, 2018.
