Steve Jobs, in his Stanford University commencement address, said “You can’t connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something. Your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever, because believing that the dots will connect down the road will give you the confidence to follow your heart, even when it leads you off the well-worn path. And that will make all the difference.” I saw the truth of this in action and thought I’d share that with you.
Yesterday I had just finished re-watching Trevor Noah’s comedy special titled “Trevor Noah: Crazy normal” that he did in 2011, before going to try his hand at making it in the US, when the credits started rolling. I saw the director listed as David Paul Meyer. I remembered reading a post on Trevor Noah’s Instagram page where he was thanking David Paul Meyer for encouraging him to tour the US and offering him accommodation. In Trevor’s own words:
“Just taking a quick moment to brag about a friend. The friend that convinced me to come tour America, let me sleep on his couch, and forced me to try tacos. This friend not only directed my standup specials, but came along to work with @thedailyshow. Now, this same friend received his first Emmy nomination for “Outstanding Directing for a Variety Series.” The @TelevisionAcad couldn’t have acknowledged a better person! Congrats buddy! @dpmeyer (Trevor Noah’s Instagram – July 29, 2020.)
I got curious and thought I wonder how they met. So I consulted my best friend, Google, who led me to a 2012 Vulture article by Laura Turner Garrison who interviewed David regarding his documentary “You laugh but it’s true.” It’s through that interview (which you should definitely check out) that I found out it was in 2008, whilst a graduate film student that David decided to go to South Africa in search of a subject for his thesis, which became the year he and Trevor met. David was interested in the emerging stand-up comedy scene in South Africa at the time and one of the comedians he was introduced to happened to be Trevor.
Without regurgitating Laura Turner Garrison’s article, in brief, Trevor ended up becoming the subject of David’s thesis and they became friends as a result. It was David who encouraged Trevor to take a chance on touring the US. I bring that up because look where Trevor is today. Their meeting in 2008, among other things and people, led to Trevor becoming the host of The Daily Show, a role that has changed his life in ways I’m sure even Trevor himself couldn’t have imagined.
And David, he went from a film graduate student who randomly read about the South African comedy scene in a Vanity Fair article and is now the Director of The Daily Show, an award winning show. Looking back, we can now connect the dots and see how the meeting of these two men in 2008 helped get them where they are and I would even go so far as to say it changed the trajectory of their lives.
I don’t know where you are in life or what part of your dream pursuit journey you’re on but I thought I’d share this to show you that the things you do now or situations you find yourself in that make you wonder, is it worth it? To show you that yes it is, you may not see it now but the dots will connect in time and you will look back and see why every move you made mattered and why the people or that one person you connected with was sent to you at just the right time. For you to see that you are divinely guided and as you do what you do, behind the scenes, things are being connected in ways you currently couldn’t fathom. This was comforting for me because this dream pursuit journey can be discouraging and lonely at times. That’s why I’m constantly in search of stories like this, that remind me to keep going and show me that I can do my part and God will work behind the scenes and direct things in a manner that will make sense when I look back. I look forward to seeing that and being able to share it to impact someone the way Trevor Noah and David Paul Meyer’s story has done for me.
If you ever find yourself wondering why you should keep going after your dreams, go read the Vulture article by Laura Turner Garrison detailing the meeting of Trevor Noah and David Paul Meyer. You could also watch the Steve Jobs Stanford commencement address on YouTube because it will show you how the dots will indeed connect when you look back.
