Post #14 5/12/09 Picking Out the Bad Fruit

Darryl Strawberry was one of the most popular players in baseball during his career, which began in 1983 and ended in 1999. Drafted as the first overall pick in 1980, his future in the sport seemed bright. Three years later he went on to earn National League's Rookie of the Year award, and after that he was voted to the all-star team eight consecutive times. He also helped the New York Mets and the New York Yankees to win the World Series, which earned him four rings As his career blossomed, he became one of the most intimidating hitters and his swing was often compared to that of Ted Williams, arguably one of the greatest hitters of the game. However, unlike the success he had on the field, he had some failures off of it.

Unlike the controversy of steroids surrounding baseball today, Strawberry suffered from substance abuse. As a result he spent time in prison. Along with that he even had a battle with cancer. But after all is said and done, he does not regret any of the decisions he has made.

Like he said, “I'm not ashamed of who I am. Of course I'm ashamed of the things that have happened. But with life experiences, you're able to give back and help others.”

By making bad decisions we are given the oppurtunity to learn what we did wrong, and able to evaluate the whole situation so that we know what we should do when another scenario of the sort occurs again. Sure some of us would want to go back in time and do what he had done on the contrary, but we would not have the knowledge of what to do under situations like that.

By going to jail Strawberry had plenty of time to recuperate, and analyze the chioces he made during his life. When he finally got out he was able to clean himself up and was able to "find his way."

In his book "Finding My Way" he discusses the family conflicts he had at a young age that lead him to drugs and alcohol. Then through a long process of thought he tells readers how he was able to clean himself upand overcome his past. Through his mistakes he was able to learn about what his true identity was. After his epiphany he has started a few organizations willing to help others such as The Darryl Strawberry Foundation.

Like Strawberry, we should not avoid our pst decisions that were bad, but welcome them as life teachings. We need to realize that not only what we did was wrong, but to also find away how we can make it right the next time. This way we can make the right choice and help others to avoid making the extremely bad chioces.


Here is some more information about The Straw Man.
http://espn.go.com/classic/biography/s/Strawberry_Darryl.html

Post #13 5/5/09 Life Commencements

As far as it may seem, the end of the school year is approaching and graduation is just around the corner for this year's senior classes. Before we know it we will be in their position, sitting down in our caps and gowns listening to someone give a commencement speech. No matter what, as we continue to move on to new chapters, we are constantly learning not only from the past but how we should lead our lives.

One of the most inspiring commencement addresses to me was that of Steve Jobs. As most of you may know Steve Jobs is the CEO of Apple. However, in his commencement speech he revealed much information that many of us did not know and probably would have never guessed. Put up for adoption, not attending college, and being diagnosed with a rare type of Pancreatic cancer, were several things he spoke about. Linking them to the importance of "finding what you love" he wanted to leave the new grads with the curiosity to simply to what they love and if they do not know what their love is, to find it. In his very own life Steve Jobs followed his own heart. It was his choice to drop out of college, yet by following his heart he provided himself with the confidence to do what he desired and overall, it was by far the best decision he has ever made. After finding Apple in his parents garage at the age of twenty he was actually fired since the company sided with the other co-founder. But that did not stop him nor the love he had for his job and what he did.

He would later find a company called NeXT, and help find the company Pixar which would both blow up. Apple would eventually buy NeXT, and Pixar would grow into animation's finest company.

If he would have stayed in college, Apple may have never been founded. If he never stayed compassionate for his job, maybe Apple would not be what it is now. But that was not the point of his speech. The point was to show these Stanford grads how integral it is to find what you love, no matter how difficult it is, and to do it.

Like Steve Jobs said,

"Sometimes life hits you in the head with a brick. Don't lose faith. I'm convinced that the only thing that kept me going was that I loved what I did. You've got to find what you love. And that is as true for your work as it is for your lovers. Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven't found it yet, keep looking. Don't settle. As with all matters of the heart, you'll know when you find it. And, like any great relationship, it just gets better and better as the years roll on. So keep looking until you find it. Don't settle."

"Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of others' opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary."

Not only was his speech very inspiring but very true. By failing to do something you do not love and choosing to live someone else's life you lose a sense of who you are and live a life full of regrets. Do your own thing even if it requires you to continue searching for what yo want to do. Just do not give up searching, because only time will tell you when you know what you want to do. Just be open and continue to learn.

Here is his complete commencement address.


Here is a list of other notable college commencement addresses that hopefully you will learn something from.
http://www.humanity.org/voices/commencements/