苹果CEO库克在乔治·华盛顿大学2015毕业典礼上英语演讲稿
Hello GW. Thank you very much, President Knapp, for that kind intro. Alex, trustees, faculty and deans of the university, my fellow honorees, and especially you the class of 2015. Yes.
Congratulations to you, to your family, to your friends that are attending today's ceremony.You made it. It's a privilege, a rare privilege of a lifetime to be with you today. And I thinkthank you enough for making me an honorary Colonial.
Before I begin today, they asked me to make a standard announcement. You've heard thisbefore. About silencing your phones. Those of you with an iPhone, just place it in silent mode.If you don't have an iPhone, please pass it to the center aisle. Apple has a world‑class recyclingprogram.
You know, this is really an amazing place. And for a lot of you, I'm sure that being here inWashington, the very center of our democracy, was a big draw when you were choosing whichschool to go to. This place has a powerful pull. It was here that Dr. Martin Luther Kingchallenged Americans to make real the promises of democracy, to make justice a reality for allof God's children. And it was here that President Ronald Reagan called on us to believe inourselves and to believe in our capacity to perform great deeds. I'd like to start this morningby telling you about my first visit here. In the summer of 1977 – yes, I'm a little old – I was 16years old and living in Robertsdale, the small town in southern Alabama that I grew up in. Atthe end of my junior year of high school I'd won essay contest sponsored by the National RuralElectric Association. I can't remember what the essay was about, what I do remember veryclearly is writing it by hand, draft after draft after draft. Typewriters were very expensive andmy family could not afford one.
I was one of two kids from Baldwin County that was chosen to go to Washington along withhundreds of other kids across the country. Before we left, the Alabama delegation took a trip toour state capitol in Montgomery for a meeting with the governor. The governor's name wasGeorge C. Wallace. The same George Wallace who in 1963 stood in the schoolhouse door at theUniversity of Alabama to block African Americans from enrolling. Wallace embraced the evils ofsegregation. He pitted whites against blacks, the South against the North, the working classagainst the so‑called elites. Meeting my governor was not an honor for me.
My heroes in life were Dr. Martin Luther King, and Robert F. Kennedy, who had fought againstthe very things that Wallace stood for. Keep in mind, that I grew up, or, when I grew up, I grewup in a place that where King and Kennedy were not exactly held in high esteem. When I was akid, the South was still coming to grips with its history. My textbooks even said the Civil Warwas about states' rights. They barely mentioned slavery.
So I had to figure out for myself what was right and true. It was a search. It was a process. Itdrew on the moral sense that I'd learned from my parents, and in church, and in my own heart,and led me on my own journey of discovery.
I found books in the public library that they probably didn't know they had. They all pointed tothe fact that Wallace was wrong. That injustices like segregation had no place in our world. Thatequality is a right.
As I said, I was only 16 when I met Governor Wallace, so I shook his hand as we were expectedto do. But shaking his hand felt like a betrayal of my own beliefs. It felt wrong. Like I wasselling a piece of my soul. From Montgomery we flew to Washington.
It was the first time I had ever been on an airplane. In fact it was the first time that I traveledout of the South. On June 15, 1977, I was one of 900 high schoolers greeted by the newpresident, President Jimmy Carter on the south lawn of the White House, right there on theother side of the ellipse.
I was one of the lucky ones, who got to shake his hand. Carter saw Baldwin County on my nametag that day and stopped to speak with me. He wanted to know how people were doing afterthe rash of storms that struck Alabama that year. Carter was kind and compassionate; heheld the most powerful job in the world but he had not sacrificed any of his humanity. I feltproud that he was president. And I felt proud that he was from the South.
In the space of a week, I had come face to face with two men who guaranteed themselves aplace in history. They came from the same region. They were from the same political party.They were both governors of adjoining states. But they looked at the world in very differentways. It was clear to me, that one was right, and one was wrong. Wallace had built his politicalcareer by exploiting divisions between us. Carter's message on the other hand, was that we areall bound together, every one of us. Each had made a journey that led them to the values thatthey lived by, but it wasn't just about their experiences or their circumstances, it had to comefrom within.
My own journey in life was just beginning. I hadn't even applied for college yet at that point.For you graduates, the process of discovering yourself, of inventing yourself, of reinventingyourself is about to begin in earnest. It's about finding your values and committing to live bythem. You have to find your North Star. And that means choices. Some are easy. Some arehard. And some will make you question everything.
Twenty years after my visit to Washington, I met someone who made me question everything.Who upended all of my assumptions in the very best way. That was Steve Jobs.
Steve had built a successful company. He had been sent away and he returned to find it inruins. He didn't know it at the time, but he was about to dedicate the rest of his life torescuing it, and leading it to heights greater than anyone could ever imagine. Anyone, that is,except for Steve. Most people have forgotten, but in 1997 and early 1998, Apple had beenadrift for years. Rudderless. But Steve thought Apple could be great again. And he wanted toknow if I'd like to help.
His vision for Apple was a company that turned powerful technology into tools that were easy touse, tools that would help people realize their dreams. And change the world for the better. Ihad studied to be an engineer and earned an M.B.A. I was trained to be pragmatic, a problemsolver. Now I found myself sitting before and listening to this very animated 40‑something guywith visions of changing the world. It was not what I had expected. You see, when it came tomy career, in 1998, I was also adrift. Rudderless.
I knew who I was in my personal life, and I kept my eye on my North Star, my responsibility todo good for someone else, other than myself. But at work, well I always figured that work waswork. Values had their place and, yes, there were things that I wanted to change about theworld, but I thought I had to do that on my own time. Not in the office. Steve didn't see it thatway. He was an idealist. And in that way he reminded me of how I felt as a teenager. In thatfirst meeting he convinced me if we worked hard and made great products, we too could helpchange the world. And to my surprise, I was hooked. I took the job and changed my life. It'sbeen 17 years and I have never once looked back.
At Apple we believe the work should be more than just about improving your own self. It'sabout improving the lives of others as well. Our products do amazing things. And just as Steveenvisioned, they empower people all over the world. People who are blind, and needinformation read to them because they can't see the screen. People for whom technology is alifeline because they are isolated by distance or disability. People who witness injustice andwant to expose it, and now they can because they have a camera in their pocket all the time.
Our commitment goes beyond the products themselves to how they're made. To our impacton the environment. To the role we play in demanding and promoting equality. And inimproving education. We believe that a company that has values and acts on them can reallychange the world. And an individual can too. That can be you. That must be you. Graduates,your values matter. They are your North Star. And work takes on new meaning when you feelyou are pointed in the right direction. Otherwise, it's just a job, and life is too short for that. Weneed the best and brightest of your generation to lead in government and in business. In thescience and in the arts. In journalism and in academia. There is honor in all of these pursuits.And there is opportunity to do work that is infused with moral purpose. You don't have tochoose between doing good and doing well. It's a false choice, today more than ever.
Your challenge is to find work that pays the rent, puts food on the table, and lets you do whatis right and good and just.
So find your North Star. Let it guide you in life, and work, and in your life's work. Now, Isuspect some of you aren't buying this.
I won't take it personally. It's no surprise that people are skeptical, especially here inWashington.
Where these days you've got plenty of reason to be. And a healthy amount of skepticism isfine. Though too often in this town, it turns to cynicism. To the idea that no matter who'stalking or what they're saying, that their motives are questionable, their character is suspect,and if you search hard enough, you can prove that they are lying. Maybe that's just the worldwe live in. But graduates, this is your world to change.
As I said, I am a proud son of the South. It's my home, and I will always love it. But for the last17 years I've built a life in Silicon Valley; it's a special place. The kind of place where there's noproblem that can't be solved. No matter how difficult or complex, that's part of its essentialquality. A very sincere sort of optimism. Back in the 90s, Apple ran an advertising campaignwe called "Think Different." It was pretty simple. Every ad was a photograph of one of ourheroes. People who had the audacity to challenge and change the way we all live. People likeGandhi and Jackie Robinson, Martha Graham and Albert Einstein, Amelia Earhart and MilesDavis. These people still inspire us. They remind us to live by our deepest values and reach forour highest aspirations. They make us believe that anything is possible. A friend of mine atApple likes to say the best way to solve a problem is to walk into a room full of Apple engineersand proclaim, "this is impossible."
I can tell you, they will not accept that. And neither should you. So that's the one thing I'd liketo bring to you all the way from Cupertino, California. The idea that great progress is possible,whatever line of work you choose. There will always be cynics and critics on the sidelines tearingpeople down, and just as harmful are those people with good intentions who make nocontribution at all. In his letter from the Birmingham jail, Dr. King wrote that our societyneeded to repent, not merely for the hateful words of the bad people, but for the appallingsilence of the good people.
The sidelines are not where you want to live your life. The world needs you in the arena. Thereare problems that need to be solved. Injustices that need to be ended. People that are stillbeing persecuted, diseases still in need of cure. No matter what you do next, the world needsyour energy. Your passion. Your impatience with progress. Don't shrink from risk. And tuneout those critics and cynics. History rarely yields to one person, but think, and never forget,what happens when it does. That can be you. That should be you. That must be you.
Congratulations Class of 2015. I'd like to take one photo of you, because this is the best view inthe world. And it's a great one. Thank you very much.
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