Upon feeling the rumblings of my famished stomach this morning I was reminded of a phrase from a 2005 commencement speech given by Steve Jobs - "Stay Hungry, Stay Foolish". At first glance, one may find that the correlation between what my tummy wants and what my mind understands this phrase to mean is quite incompatible. On the contrary, the two have everything to do with one another.
The first of the two - my unfulfilled stomach - tells me that I need nourishment on a daily basis. It may not be at the same times everyday but I still must do my best to meet its needs. Now each day my tummy craves a variety of foods, whether they be truly healthy for my body or just a filler for the time being is a matter of taste. To be sure, it is my job to give my body exactly what it needs to grow and keep functioning correctly, thus, my stomach is happy and so is the rest of my body. Even so, my tummy is an insatiable entity, always requiring of me the better things in life, so my job is never done. I must always be at the ready to satiate this part of me, if only temporarily, before it moves on to wanting something new.
The second of the two - Steve Job's commencement phrase - tells me that true knowledge and the genuine desire to seek out that knowledge is a neverending life process. Everyday my brain craves stimulation and it is up to me to meet its needs. Now the mind is a little more of a sophisticated organ - transmitting, translating, and transferring information from it to the rest of my body. This lean, mean, thinkin' machine requires various forms of provocation be they good (reading a book) or not so good (watching TV), either way my brain may find in those activities the stuff of champions, some knowledge that was once a mystery to it before that moment. But, my work does not end here. No, this interesting piece of me has yet to reach fruition, there will always be something that it does not know. It is always wanting more and I must be willing and able to give it that little or lotta bit that it aspires to acquire. My mind will never stop having this inclination until I am senile or dead and even then I can still give it all I've got.
Together these two seemingly singular ideas can now be brought together to mean that in this life we are charged with the responsiblity of caring for ourselves, mind, body, and soul. Without the drive to be better and to want more from ourselves, how can we truly say that we belong to the human race - a race of creatures constantly adapting and transforming into something new?
So, in the words of Steve Jobs, whether your tummy is a-rumblin' or your mind is a-churnin' always remember to "Stay Hungry, Stay Foolish".
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