Yesterday was beautiful, in fact it was amazing.
Hundreds of people gathered to remember the life of documentary film maker Mike DeGruy at Fess Parker’s down by the water. People from all over the world came together, famous and not so famous, but all were touched in some way by Mike… if not by blood, then by passion and lust for life and all creatures in it.
I started going to the SBIFF in the late 90’s, going to the more well attended features and tributes and always found myself in the end at the documentaries. I found fellow nature lovers would stand in line (sometimes in the pouring rain) to take in films about the intelligence of crows, global warming, and rogue whales in the North Pacific. I was always a “front-row-sitter” so I could be immersed in the film, I wanted to be there…
I am inspired by the exuberance and tenacity of film makers like DeGruy. Willing to go to the ends of the earth to bring stories from the depths of the oceans, like a modern-day Jules Verne, albeit more childlike and familiar in his sea-tale-telling.
I guess my take-away lesson from yesterday is this, I thought about what different people said during the memorial about carrying on legacy, research…life is about “going for it.”
It completely echoed words of Steve Jobs in his commencement address at Stanford a few years before his own untimely passing:
“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, heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.”
Hundreds of people gathered to remember the life of documentary film maker Mike DeGruy at Fess Parker’s down by the water. People from all over the world came together, famous and not so famous, but all were touched in some way by Mike… if not by blood, then by passion and lust for life and all creatures in it.
I started going to the SBIFF in the late 90’s, going to the more well attended features and tributes and always found myself in the end at the documentaries. I found fellow nature lovers would stand in line (sometimes in the pouring rain) to take in films about the intelligence of crows, global warming, and rogue whales in the North Pacific. I was always a “front-row-sitter” so I could be immersed in the film, I wanted to be there…
I am inspired by the exuberance and tenacity of film makers like DeGruy. Willing to go to the ends of the earth to bring stories from the depths of the oceans, like a modern-day Jules Verne, albeit more childlike and familiar in his sea-tale-telling.
I guess my take-away lesson from yesterday is this, I thought about what different people said during the memorial about carrying on legacy, research…life is about “going for it.”
It completely echoed words of Steve Jobs in his commencement address at Stanford a few years before his own untimely passing:
“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, heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.”
I vow to be in the front row for the rest of my life!
Jumping Puddles 