In Steve Job's 2005 Commencement speech to Standford graduates, he left them with 2 quotes that I find both impressive, and idealistic of the concepts of individualism that is described by Bellah, either utilitarian or expressive. The first quote offered by Jobs was "If you live each day as your last, someday you'll most certainly be right." Jobs followed this quote with asking himself everyday if today was his last day, would he be happy with what he was about to do that day. And if there were too many days in a row where he was not happy with what he had planned for the day, he knew he had to change something. This gives an insight into the way that Steve Jobs lived his life. He wanted to live everyday as if it was his last. He wanted to improve himself everyday. The espressive individualist focuses on the cultivation of the self to become happy with the way that one lives their own life. Bellah explains that the expressive individualist focuses on the fulfillment of the self. With this quote, Jobs is stressing to the graduates that they should be happy with how they live their own life everyday in a very expressive individualist perspective.
The second quote that Jobs leaves the graduates with is from "The Whole Earth Catalog." This catalog's last message to its followers was simple and straight forward, but also adapts a more utilitarian individualist persepctive. The quote was "Stay hungry, Stay foolish," suggesting that people should strive for new things for themselves, looking to better their situation in any way possible. The utilitarian perspective is more focused on material success rather than the fulfillment of the inner self that is stressed by expressive utilitarianism. I think it is interesting that Jobs tells these graduates to stay foolish, because he often chose the route of perfection in his designs for Apple, especially regarding the Mac. I feel like the term foolish has the connotation of imperfection or producing a rushed result, which Jobs would never have accepted.
Staying foolish seems to be an odd expression for Jobs to say he built himself up. But the more i think about it, who tell us that we are being foolish, other people who wouldn't do things the way we want to do them. Staying foolish now seems like the way we should all lead our lives, doing things the way we think it makes sense for us to do it.
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