Connecting the Dots

Last month I came across Apple Founder Steve Jobs’ speech to the graduating seniors of Stanford University in 2005. It’s a great speech and Jobs’ delivery is simple and honest. He talked about “connecting the dots.” Basically, he said that it was only in hindsight that he was able to figure out how the experiences and choices of his life connected and brought him to where he was in 2005. Good stuff. Inspiring stuff.

I showed it to my students as an introduction to a text that we would be discussing in class. My students are 15- and 16-year-olds so I asked myself, “What sort of dots could a 16-year-old connect?” At 16, you’re just going off to college, just about to choose which course you’ll be taking. If the whole world is ahead of you, why would you look back? And it was at that point that I began to see, how I was really and truly an adult now.

Oh I know, I know, I haven’t been a child since I was 18. But sometimes, I forget. Every year, a new batch of 15-year-olds come into my class and they graduate ten months later. Just because they haven’t aged doesn’t mean I haven’t either. And I don’t even mean the physical aspect of aging.

I’m an adult now and I know it. My time no longer seems infinite and neither are my choices. Things that I thought I would “absolutely die for” suddenly don’t seem to matter all that much. My priorities have changed. I’m a little bit more wary now, more cautious of the choices I make. I have a better grasp of things that really matter. And I can now fully and completely understand what my parents and other relatives meant when they said, “Wait until you’re older. You’ll understand it then.” I used to think that it was such a patronizing statement. What on earth could I possibly not understand if they took the time to explain it to me?

The thing is, though, there are just some things that are beyond the scope of expressing. Some things you have to wait out for. Some experiences you have to live through. Some dots, you can only see after you’ve given yourself some time and distance.