Saturday, May 10, 2008

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Hellow!

Yesterday I watched Bill Gates' lecture at TVRI. There were so many people attending that lecture, including Pak SBY. It amuses me how the government succeeded to invite him (Bill Gates, not Pak SBY. hehe) to Indonesia. Bravo!

Anyway, there was a question from a UI student if I'm not mistaken. He asked Bill Gates' secret of becoming successful. He answered that graduating from school is very important. He doesn't recommend quitting school the way he did. The other thing he said that I remember the most is about the importance of reading. He's always curious about things so he read a lot. He also said he was lucky to have parents who supported his love of books and let him quit school to pursue his dreams.

Will Smith also said something like this in his speech when he won an award as the best celebrity role model or inspiration in Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards in 2003. He said that we must not let people tell us what we can’t do and read at least 3 pages a day.

I am a true believer of this idea. I think people who are knowledgeable are more fun to talk to. Probably some of them aren’t very smart academically, but people like this are living proof that smart people isn’t always people who get straight A’s. Even my genius sister (who is taking her doctorate degree in the age of 23 with a scholarship) agrees that people who are school smart aren’t always smart.

So, why don’t you lift that lazy ass of yours off the couch and start reading instead of watching sinetron’s.

Here's the video of Bill Gates' speech