Many articles have been written over the past week about Steve Jobs, and that's understandable. He's not an ordinary person; he's a risk-taker. Some of us jabber a lot about risk-taking and how the United States is a country that encourages it, but how many of us actually take risks? I suppose every time we drive we take a risk, especially in Los Angeles. But how many of us are curious? How many of us experiment? How many of us ask questions? How many of us are continuously learning and seeking real-life experiences? How many of us risk failing?
But do the people in power really want us-- their minions-- taking too many risks?
Anyway, our country is proud that we have the freedom to do almost anything we want, but I'm not sure how much encouragement there really is to do almost anything. Yes, Nike had an ad campaign that told us to just do it, but what that meant was just go ahead and buy our sneakers and then while wearing our sneakers you'll magically be able to try to do anything imaginable. (But the key is to consume our stuff.) But let's look at Dorothy, the young lady trying to get back to Kansas. Yes, she's fake, but let's see what kind of risk taker corporate America really adores. Why didn't she stay in Oz and try living somewhere other than Kansas? Ok, she was supposed to be a kid though she looks a lot older than one. I wonder what would have happened if she did what Steve Jobs recommends-- that is, what The Whole Earth Catalog's recommends: Stay hungry. Stay foolish.
How many of us will actually take this billionaire's/catalog's advice?
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