乔布斯面对癌症

2005年6月12日，乔布斯(Steve Jobs)在美国史丹福大学毕业典礼的演讲中，讲述了关于他的3个小故事。

第一个故事提到孩童时期的生活。17岁上大学，但很快就退学了。他不知道以后要做什么，也看不出大学可以为他指点迷津。尽管如此，那个阶段的他却清楚地知道自己喜欢和不喜欢做的事。停学后，反而有更多时间做自己喜欢的事，结果他在20岁时就与朋友一起创办了苹果王国。

第二个故事说的是他被自己亲手创立的苹果公司解雇后，丢了权柄，却发现依然热爱自己的事业，决定重新出发。他后来发现，被苹果解雇是发生在他身上最好的事，这使他重新感觉自由并且充满创意。他不只创办新公司，还与后来成为他妻子的女人相爱。

第三个故事提到死亡。他17岁时读过一句话“如果你把每一天当成最后一天来活，有一天你会发现你是正确的”，因而开始省思关于死亡和生命的课题。他说：“所有荣耀、骄傲、对难堪和失败的恐惧，在死亡面前都会消隐，只留下真正重要的东西。”提醒自己就要死亡，是让自己避免掉入得失陷阱最好的方法。这时候你已经赤裸裸，没有东西可以失去，没有理由不跟随你的心。

他觉得自己罹患癌症后是最接近死亡的时候，但他说死亡可能是生命最好的东西，它去陈让新。他认为时间有限，不要浪费在重复他人的生活上，不要让教条约束，那等于活在别人的思考结果，不要让他人喧嚣观点掩盖自己真正的想法。“你的直觉和内心知道你要变成什么样子，其他东西都是次要的。”

正是因为曾经面对死亡，才让他感悟到什么是生命中最重要的东西。

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以下是第三个故事的英文版本：

My third story is about death. When I was 17 I read a quote that went something like "If you live each day as if it was your last, someday you'll most certainly be right." It made an impression on me, and since then, for the past 33 years, I have looked in the mirror every morning and asked myself, "If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?" And whenever the answer has been "no" for too many days in a row, I know I need to change something. Remembering that I'll be dead soon is the most important thing I've ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life, because almost everything--all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure--these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart. 

About a year ago, I was diagnosed with cancer. I had a scan at 7:30 in the morning and it clearly showed a tumor on my pancreas. I didn't even know what a pancreas was. The doctors told me this was almost certainly a type of cancer that is incurable, and that I should expect to live no longer than three to six months. My doctor advised me to go home and get my affairs in order, which is doctors' code for "prepare to die." It means to try and tell your kids everything you thought you'd have the next ten years to tell them, in just a few months. It means to make sure that everything is buttoned up so that it will be as easy as possible for your family. It means to say your goodbyes.

I lived with that diagnosis all day. Later that evening I had a biopsy where they stuck an endoscope down my throat, through my stomach into my intestines, put a needle into my pancreas and got a few cells from the tumor. I was sedated but my wife, who was there, told me that when they viewed the cells under a microscope, the doctor started crying, because it turned out to be a very rare form of pancreatic cancer that is curable with surgery. I had the surgery and, thankfully, I am fine now. 

This was the closest I've been to facing death, and I hope it's the closest I get for a few more decades. Having lived through it, I can now say this to you with a bit more certainty than when death was a useful but purely intellectual concept. No one wants to die, even people who want to go to Heaven don't want to die to get there, and yet, death is the destination we all share. No one has ever escaped it. And that is as it should be, because death is very likely the single best invention of life. It's life's change agent; it clears out the old to make way for the new. Right now, the new is you. But someday, not too long from now, you will gradually become the old and be cleared away. Sorry to be so dramatic, but it's quite true. Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma, which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of others' opinions drown out your own inner voice, and most important, have the courage to follow heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary. 

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2011年乔布斯去世后，他妹妹辛普森(Mona Simpson)出席了史丹福大学为乔布斯举办的追悼会，发表悼词时透露了乔布斯临终前的遗言。

乔布斯逝世前，先看着辛普森，然后看着自己的孩子们，再看看妻子，最后看着所有的人说道：“哦哇(Oh wow)、哦哇(Oh wow)、哦哇(Oh wow)”。

他脸上露出一丝笑容，一切尽在不言中。

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