Monday, October 29, 2007

Inspiration For Pushing The Human Race Forward

About 7-8 years ago, Apple came out with the ad campaign "Think Different". You may remember it. I didn't think much of it (positive or negative) when I saw it at first.

But, in the summer of 2001, we were preparing to move from Tulsa, OK to Los Angeles - a risky move with a full-sized family.

I needed inspiration; I needed motivation. During that summer before moving, I again saw this ad, and the words grabbed me in a new way.

At that time, I needed to hear that doing something out of the ordinary was OK; that doing something risky was not just acceptable, but necessary for me to reach into the depths of my potential. Some people can reach their potential living in one place for their whole lives, but I needed a new environment.

I was fortunate to have a wife in Chana, that was right there with me, dreaming, scheming, praying and planning. If we weren't aligned, I don't think I could've or would've base-jumped into the unknown that is LA.

Here's the text of the ad:


Here’s to the crazy ones.
The misfits.
The rebels.
The troublemakers.
The round pegs in the square holes.
The ones who see things differently.
They’re not fond of rules.
And they have no respect for the status quo.
You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them.
About the only thing you can’t do is ignore them.
Because they change things.
They push the human race forward.
And while some see them as the crazy ones,
We see genius.
Because the people who are crazy enough to think
they can change the world,
Are the ones who do.

Click here to see the ad on YouTube.

Click here to see an alternate (and creative) version of the ad.

Sometimes it's easy to forget all of the little links in the chain that helped take you from point A to B, and I had forgotten about this one. I'm glad to revisit it now, 'cause it still inspires me.

Think different my friends.

And think big.

2 comments:

Richard Gaspard said...

Mark - was thinking about you this morning. I hope all is well. Is that a Capricorn you're sitting in front of? Jerk.

Check out my blog, and these two links:

www.mycrossroads.org
www.crossroads-creative.com

That's what I'm pretty much doing these days. Daphne is great, Kylie is 10, and Katie is 7. Time flies, bro. Good to see you're doing cool things. Looney Tunes remastering...how cool is that!?

Mark Keefer said...

Hey Rich!

I answered this comment mostly in email.

BTW - it's a Neve DFC, in the Stag Theater at Skywalker Sound. It's the room we did the (first) final for "Hoodwinked!".