To Dream the Impossible Dream (Full Version)
 

It's hard to believe it's been 6 months since I decided to write this speech. Actually, it's hard to believe it's been 7 years since I've became a part of FIRST. But time flys by and we try to keep ourselves ahead of it until it catches up again and sweep us off our feet with memories, experiences, wonderful times, and tearful moments.

We don't spend enough time taking a moment thinking about what all these craziness is all about, especially the students, because the world is still a strange and exciting place, and time is still measured by hours, days, weeks, instead of years, decades, centuries.

So, here is a little bit of words I want to say to the students, in fact, all 2,556 of them, in hopping they will have a little more than what they have in preparating for the years, decades, and centuries to come.

(I know, I know, I can always see some of you rolling your eyes and shaking your head. I promise I will only do this once a year, so get that cup of coffee and start reading!)

See you guys next year at Cal Games 2007!

--------------------------------------------------------------------------



I told Ken Krieger after one of our planning meetings at Google that I am going to give a very broad, very deep, Dean Kamen style, 30 minutes speech at Cal Games, and Ken said to me, "Oh. You know, there is something to be said about being concise. You can say a lot in five minutes." And I said, "Yeah, Yeah, Yeah. On the other hand, I can be just like Dean Kamen." And Ken said, "fair enough." Oh, don't worry folks, I am not going to drag you through one of those. My speech is now only twenty two minutes. Much shorter.

But seriously folks, it's very easy to spend 5 minutes in a match, a day at Cal Games, 6 weeks building a robot. Its very easy to lose yourself in the excitements and then sooner or later it's 1 years… 3 years… 6 years… We don't spend enough time taking a moment to think about the bigger picture, about why we are doing all these.

But being back here today reminds me how important it is we are doing what we are doing. So I am going to talk to the students a little bit because #1, I am still a student myself, #2, it seems like people are always talking about us, but never with us, and #3, I would’ve like hearing what I am about to say:



I talked to lots of college students about school last year, and they told me they don’t really know why they are there. They told me they are not interested in their classes and worst yet, they are pretty sure when they are done they won’t use any of them anyway, so what’s the point?

I looked at the world around me, it's full of sports and entertainment. I mean, I like a ball game once in a while, and I can’t live without movies. But when that's all you see around you, that become the world you grow up in. It's also full of politics and wars, people constantly fighting each other, countries behaving like they are the only one that matters… As if we are at the pinnacle of our society and everyone is fighting for that one square inch of real-estate at the peak. We don’t fight for truly important things; only over trivial things where no one can possibly win.

There are no dreams anymore, nothing to aspire to, and we are losing the abilities to achieve them even if we have any. It’s time like this I wish JFK and Dr. King are here to tell us “We choose to go to the moon!” or “I have a dream!” because frankly, our leaders are doing a terrible job being role models for us. Even though we have all their (JFK and Dr. King) books and speeches, they don’t matter if we don’t know how to use them or why we need them. And while I think the world of Dean and Woodie, they are great leaders of the FIRST community, there are many schools without FIRST teams, and many students who aren't going into science and engineering who need just as much inspiration and motivation as we do.

So what do we do when schools don't teach us why we need to learn? What do we do when the culture fail to inspire and recognize the truly important things? What do we do to find our dreams and break through this barrier created by the world around us?


Well, we have to learn to do it. We have to learn to solve bigger problems one-step at a time. The good thing is, we've been doing it all our lives. When we were small, we learned to walk, to talk, to live in a world completely alien to us. Then we learned to write, to read, to speak, to listen, to count, and using those are foundations, we learn even more complicated subjects like History, Calculus, Chemistry, Physics, Literature, Graphic design, Photography, Music theory, until we are so used to learning that we aren't even aware we are doing it anymore.

Then FIRST came along and it's not like school anymore. Suddenly we are learning how to lift a robot off the ground, how to balance two goals on a bridge, how to stack tetras on a row, how to shoot balls into a goal. We are learning about offense, defense, penalties, bonuses; we are learning to improvise, organize, specialize; and we are learning to prioritize, strategize, and optimize; we learn to do it in six weeks, three months, one year, then you write everything down on a piece of paper, shove it in a drawer and then you ask what's next!

We are learning to solve bigger problems one step at a time, and FIRST teaches us about solving problems and why that's important. It teaches us about working together, and a little about our dreams.


But that’s not enough because sooner and later we have to take off these training wheels call FIRST and go off to colleges. For many of you it will be the first time in charge of your own schedule, your studies, your classes. It will be the first time writing a check, worrying about tuition, making a living. And will be the first time seeing the thousands of classes without the slightest clue what they are or why you should care.

It will be completely overwhelming and you won't even know it. You might try to fake it, even managed to get some good grades, but all these time you struggle with three big questions every college student ask themselves:

Who am I? What do I want? How do I fit into this world?


It is very difficult to answer these questions, when everything you took for granted is no longer there. For the first time, you will be feeling the weight of your entire life on your shoulders, the weight of the entire world on your shoulders. It is even more difficult to answer these questions in a relative world where everyone is right and no one is right; in a world that seems to be connected, when in fact we are very much disconnected from one and other; and in a world where trivial things are treated as the most important things.

What you don't realize is that this isn't the first time people have struggled about growing up. Lincoln, never received any formal education when he was young, Thomas Edison was a very poor student and his mother had to teach him herself, Galileo's father wanted him to study medicine when he didn't want to. And the one thing they have in common is that they were incredibly curious, they felt the need to learn, and they felt the need to do something for the world around them.

We have to learn to solve bigger problems one step at a time. So, you have to be incredibly curious, you have to want to learn, to need to learn. Not only that you have to read like you've never read before, you have to dig deep, think hard, and you have to ask why. Why are we learning this, why are we doing that? You have to learn from everyone around you, and challenge everything they told you. And not only that you have to challenge yourself, and what you thought you know. You got to go out to experience, and you have to find things you care about, things you are passionate about, things that makes you burn in your stomach, things that makes you scream, "I am furious about everything and I am not going to take it anymore!"


Then one day a light bulb will appear on your head, you are going to have an epiphany, and suddenly you found your dreams. That dream is going to continue to change and evolve, but nevertheless it will give you a set of beliefs, a set of tools, a set of directions to move forward with, and it will be nothing like you've ever done before.

It will be difficult to make that dream come true, very difficult, but if you gather the smartest people around you, if you share your dreams with them, and if you are true to your passion, your curiosity, your heart, sooner or later, it will come true.

Then on the day it happens, you are going to look at yourself in the mirror, and you will see a CEO, a president, a principle, a teacher, a doctor, an engineer, and you will realize this may be a relative world, but that can't stop you anymore; and this may be a disconnected world, and that can't stop you anymore; and this may be an empty world, and that can't stop you anymore.

We are learning to solve bigger problems one step at a time.


One day, I hope to finish my degree, have my own career. And one day, I hope to have a family, and kids of my own. I will teach them how to speak, to read, to watch TV. I will also get them started on Emmanuel Kant when they are 5, you know, just to give them a head start. Then they are going to join a FIRST Lego League team, a Vex team, and a FIRST team just like the rest of you, and they are going to colleges in a few years, just like the rest of you.

And that's when the trouble starts, because I will start hearing words like "Driver's license", "parties", "boy friend/girl friend", and the most dreadful of all, "tuition". But I am not going to stop trying just because it is hard. I will have to teach them how to think, how to find their dreams, and I am not going to stop trying just because it is hard. And I am going to have to provide them with a better future, and I am not going to stop trying just because it is hard.

Because I have been thinking, I have been reading, this is who I am, this is what I want, and I am furious about everything and I am not going to take it anymore!

We are learning to solve bigger problems one step at a time.


Growing up in Hong Kong was my first step. Coming to America, learning English was another. Then I took more and more steps when I went to high school, joined the Gunn Robotics team, and more and more steps when I volunteered at competitions, met awesome mentors like Ken Krieger, Jason Morrella, Andy Baker, Joe Johnson, and Dave Lavery.

"Atlas Shrugged" by Ayn Rand, "Zen and the art of motorcycle maintenance" by Robert Pirsig, "All the president's men", "Team of Rivals", a story of Lincoln and his cabinet, "Good night and good luck", a movie about Edward R. Murrow;

Buckminster Fuller who invented the Geodesic Dome, Thomas Paine, Rene Descartes, John Stuart Mills, David Hume, Emmanuel Kant;

The West Wing, All 11 seasons of Frasier;

"A Structure of Scientific Revolution" by Thomas S. Kuhn, "Fahrenheit 451" by Ray Bradbury, "Founding Brothers" by Joseph J. Ellis, "Origin of Species" by Charles Darwin, "Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman" by Richard Feynman…

And the last step that brought me here today… Ceal Craig, team 1120, Eugene Brooks, team 1280, Mike Schmit and Phyllis Schmit,1351, Lonny Weissman, Deborah Epperson, team 668, Dave Sheridan, 766, Laura Rhodes, 100, Randy Lam, Assistant Regional director, Alvin Cheng, 581, Pavan Datta, Ted Shinta, 115…

And the critical step that happened two years ago, during a winter in Wyoming, when I was sitting in the snow next to a river, with a clear blue sky and complete silence around me, thinking about the world, thinking about my writing, and suddenly this idea came to me and I found my dream…

I can't tell you what that dream is, at least, not yet, because I am not ready. But what I can tell you is that you have to find your curiosity, your passion, your energy, because it's the only way that will ever work. You have to choose to be successful, just like you are going to choose to beat the Technokats, Las Guerrillas, Team Hammond, the H.O.T. Team, the Triplets, Think Pink, Wildstang, but I have a feeling you already know how to do that.


It is incredibly difficult growing up in this world, but you are not alone. Look at the people who were with you the whole time, your parents, your friends, teachers, mentors;
Look at the people who weren't, but help shaped the world we have today, Lincoln, Jefferson, Edison, Einstein, Newton, Galileo… and the millions more you will never even know the names of.
And look at yourself, at how much you've grown, and how much more you have to go.

I know it will be hard to imagine your life in the next 5 years, the next 10 years…
I know there are times when you are frustrated and angry that the world is the mess it is and you don't know why.
I know there are times when you are full of ideas and want to speak your mind.
I know there are times when you want to call yourself an engineer when you finish building your robot.
And I know there are times when you are so terrified of speaking in front of people you look up to.

That's ok, that's all part of growing up. I want you to know it is all worth it.
To be able to read a book and truly understand where the author is coming from,
To be able to look at the world and truly appreciate how beautiful it is,
To write a speech and deliver it in front of people you really care about,
Holding your child for the first time knowing you have done everything you can to provide him or her a better future…
Trust me, it's worth it.


It is incredibly difficult growing up in this world, but you are not going to stop trying just because it is hard, right? Good, because that's not going to stop me from trying neither. Because you've got a star to catch, and so do I!

There are not enough teachers, scientists, engineers, doctors in this world,
there are not enough curiosities, characters, substances in our culture,
And we can do better, and we must do better, and we will do better,
And we are going to absorb and challenge everything we hear, we read, we see,
and we are going to be curios, passionate, interested,
Not because we are told to, not because we are taught to,
but because of who we are, and where we are going,
and we choose to aim for the stars and dream the impossible dream today!

Thank you so much for all your hard work the past 6 months. Thank you so much for coming today. Thank you, Thank you, Thank you. See you next year at Cal Games 2007! And thanks for listening, you guys are like family to me!

Re: To Dream the Impossible Dream (Full Version)
 

i said it once and ill say it again, it was a great speech and is very meaningful to me, personally. i suggeust that everyone read it carefully, cuz these words can change your life, it has mine. thank you ken. i hope to see you soon.

Re: To Dream the Impossible Dream (Full Version)
 

Wow... reading that was probably the best 10 minutes I have spent all day.

Re: To Dream the Impossible Dream (Full Version)
 

Ken always has words that are wise well beyond his years.

There is one important point that he makes: You have to choose to be successful in what you want to do. Just wanting to do it isn't enough. You always hear people say, "Dream big -you can be anything that you want to be." Unfortunately they leave out the part about how hard it can be reach your dreams. Not only do you have to want to be something, but you have to want to work as hard as it takes to get there. Too many people see the effort and decide that either it's not worth it, or they get overwhelmed and don't lay out the small steps to get from point A to point B.

If you REALLY want have a certain career, and you are REALLY commited to putting in the effort to do it, you can get there. I'm proud to say that I've reached my dream once, and in 4 weeks time I can say I've done it again.

Re: To Dream the Impossible Dream (Full Version)
 

I would like to add that I think getting from point A to point B happens quietly, oftentimes, with determination and risk working together to achieve success.

Re: To Dream the Impossible Dream (Full Version)
 

You know, it seems that Ken can always get me out of the shadows and actually post something...

Wow. Once again, your oh so long post leaves me almost speechless (if I was really speechless, I wouldn't be posting). You're so right on so many things. I remember back in college looking at text books from class a few years ahead of me thinking that I would never be able to understand a single equation in that book. And then, eventually, I took the class, and it was amazing that I did, in fact, understand it. About once a quarter or semester (depending on what school I went to), I would start crying from the frustration of being an engineering student and feeling like I just couldn't do it anymore (Michael could attest to this) and wanting to quit 'cause it was hard. But, I kept going and here I am now with this crazy degree that I thought wasn't possible to attain.

But, throughout all these years, I've always found your words to be calming, because there you were, across the country, going through something i could relate to! So, thank you for always writing what you're feeling, learning, and reaching for.

~Christina

Re: To Dream the Impossible Dream (Full Version)
 

I suppose its not appropriate to "bump" your own thread... But since it's my birthday, no one would mind right? :p :D


Actually, I received a few IM messages from a student last night, and she said "I read your speech again for the bajillionth time, and still, it is very good. Thank you very much". I don't know if she's talking about this long version, or the short version

I would be lying if compliments like that don't make me feel really really good. The biggest critic of a piece of writing is usually the writer him/herself. I've had to learn that since the first time I decided to write some long messages for Chief Delphi. The writing process is excruciating at best, and it's even harder for something who isn't born in American, who doesn't speak English as the first language.

I suppose the only reason I still do it is I like thinking about my experience growing up in FIRST and I know for sure I am not the only one going through it.


I know FIRST is supposed to inspire students into science and engineering. I know we are supposed to build robot and try to make the world better with technologies and design process. But as I get deeper and deeper into the FIRST experience, the more I realize, it's not limited to just that. We are, after all, trying to make the world better, trying to make the culture better, so it's not the first time someone have done all that.

Science and technology have become one of the main ways to improve the quality of life because so many questions about so many other subjects have already been answered, or at least attempted to be answered. Philosophy, laws, music, art, language, history, sociology, literature, astronomy... They all have to step aside because they've all been discussed and debated for millions of times.

The world and life isn't as strange as it used to be in the past, so we simply stop being curious about those questions and move onto more advanced, unanswered topics. We have, essentially, gone so far up the steps of the foundations we built since the last major revolution that there are little room for doubt anymore. And when the rest of the questions get answered, we will be forced to confront ourselves with this statement: Either this way of life works, or it doesn't.

Fortunately, there are people who think that we don't have to be trapped by our prosperity and knowledge, that it is still important to inspire students on their curiosity and passion, that we do have to go back to the foundation of the world as we know it today and examine the truely important things.

As long as people aren't willing to forget where we came from, as long as people are willing to look at the universal things that won't go away for as long as we shall live, we will be ok. Some battles might be harder to fight than the others, but we will be ok, because we are trying.

-Ken L

Re: To Dream the Impossible Dream (Full Version)
 

hey ken, i meant the long version. yes, i do have a life, but taking 10 minutes to read a speech that meaningful to a person, is well worth the time.

Re: To Dream the Impossible Dream (Full Version)
 

I've liked what I've read, but I think I need some clarification here:

?

Re: To Dream the Impossible Dream (Full Version)
 

wow. i've heard so many FIRST speeches during my experiences, and this definitely is up there with the ones that have affected my life.

great job. =]

Re: To Dream the Impossible Dream (Full Version)
 

If you look at History, not ancient history, but recent ones, around the 19th century, people were still spending a lot of time looking for answers in many field of studies. Charles Darwin and his theory of evolution, Monet's Impressionism, Van Gogh's Expressionism, Beethoven's music, Mark Twain, John Stuart Mill's Utilitarianism, Karl Marx's Communist Manifesto, the American Civil war (ending slavery in America).

Despite all the achievement we've gained in the past, people were still wondering what the best form of society is, they are still trying to understand how the world works, trying to come up with different discipline of science to explain different aspect of the world, and still trying to break through barriers set by previous generations by creating master piece of music, art, literature...

I am not saying we are not still doing that. We definitely are in many areas with research and developement. But what I mean is we've come to a point where modern technology is so comfortable to us, information so readily available to us that as a culture, we stop being curious about some of the things that used to be curious to us. At least, they are not the major focus anymore. Now a days, on the tv or the media, we usually just hear about sports, entertainment, politics, wars, and so on.

We stop looking at the sky and become curious of what's out there. We've gone to the moon, going to Mars is very hard and expensive, and all these satellites and telescopes are bringing beautiful pictures back...
We've stopped wondering what this universe is consist of. A lot of theories in Physics and Chemistry can already answer that, even though there are still areas that need break throughs. At least, that's what an average person will think.

How do we know how living things work in this world? Well, just look at Darwin's theory of evolution!
What are the great arts of humanity? Well, just look at all these famous pantings!
How about literature, music, philosophy? Well, just look at all these wonderful things people have done in the past!

I am not saying there aren't people still incredibly interested in all these subjects, but to the average person, the average student, there are so many "answers" available to them already it's all they can do to learn it until 12th grade, until the 4th year in undergraduate, and until they have a family and kids of their own. And their major concerns are going to be, how am I going to pay my bills? What are the news today? Is a new car, or a new computer coming out that will things easier? What are some of the new medicines that will stop things like the bird flu, cancer, HIV, etc...

We've come to a point so far up the ladder of technological/knowledge revolutions that there cease to be giant blocks of unanswered questions that make us wonder. Now a days most of the questions become, "what can science and technology do for me?" because personal computing just became popular in the last 10 years, the internet is still relatively young compare to the bigger scheme of things, and we still don't have our jet packs, flying cars, and transporters yet.

So, those are the areas we are now more interested in, at least as a society and a culture, and everything that has been discussed and debated by people over the last few centuries can simply step aside.

That's what I meant (I think).

Re: To Dream the Impossible Dream (Full Version)
 

Darwin had Lamarck, Monet and Van Gogh had Michelangelo and Da Vinci, Beethoven had Mozart, Twain had Dickens, Mill and Marx had Hobbes and Plato. None of these people achieved any less because of a perception of a humanity that had 'all the answers' dictated by their predecessors. I'm sure you wouldn't argue that because of Karl Benz, we shouldn't be trying to design a better car.

Yes, the aim of FIRST is culture change. Yes, that desired culture places higher priority on science and technology. If I didn't believe we needed that, I wouldn't be in the program. What I worry about is losing sight of the aim of that shift, which is to benefit society. I worry, therefore, about overcompensation. I don't believe that science and technology should be promoted to the exclusion of humanities and arts, because the goals of those fields are perfectly in line with the goal of ours (i.e. the betterment of society).

Re: To Dream the Impossible Dream (Full Version)
 

My thinking is that as FIRST develops and evolves with the focus on science and technology, the changing culture aspect will take care of itself. The humanities and the arts aren't going anywhere. They, too, continue to evolve and develop. And there is and will be exploration in how all of these areas can work together to strengthen the changes and the culture.
Just a couple of examples that I can think of today -
One of our alumni studies state of the art technological development in film.
Our team recruited three art students this past week to work with and help the team this year. We have talked about recruiting art students and journalism students before, this year we are doing it. We may be asked why we think we need art students and journalism students on a robotics team. Perhaps one of our answers will be to strengthen it.

Re: To Dream the Impossible Dream (Full Version)
 

You are right about that of course. There are still people who are interested in improving upon what we gained in the last few centuries. It just seems like people are less interested in the topics I mentioned because they are not part of the "mainstream", because they are nothing new. Add to the fact that there are so much knowledge accumulated for all these other disciplines that it's hard for people to really understand what they are all about really quickly.

So now we are more focused in doing things like trying to design a better car, because that's where a lot of unanswered questions remain. Essentially we are still trying to figure out if the promise of modern technology is really all that we thought it would be (I still want my jet pack by the way).

There's nothing wrong about that of course. There's nothing wrong about improving the computers and the technologies and try to make this world a better place. I am simply pointing out let's not forget all these other things that created the world we have in the first place, which at the moment do seem to be set aside for the sake of "new" and "advance".


We are trying to change the culture, and like you I do worry that technology have taken so much of the mainstream that other things aren't being talked about. I am not saying people are trying to excluse anything else, its just that it just works out this way and we need to be aware of it.

Re: To Dream the Impossible Dream (Full Version)
 

thank you, Ken you made me really look at my future