Dinner with the Pillsbury Doughboy

            The task at hand is to describe the dinner the Honors class shared with JoBe Cerny on February 15^th, 2012. Mr. Cerny is a famous actor, writer, director, and is truly a jack of all trades. He is probably most famous for being the voice and personality behind the Pillsbury Doughboy. This is a man who has lived his dreams, done what he wanted to do, and has not let anything stand in his way. He spoke a lot of living life to the fullest in a variety of ways, such as: always finding a purpose for taking a class, always put oneself out there, and the best place to find work is where there is none. JoBe Cerny came to Concordia St. Paul to do a convocation for the school about his newest work, the audio bible. Surprisingly, this was talked about very little at the dinner. Although the dinner was hurried due to Mr. Cerny's tight schedule, he still made time to attempt to make a difference in the lives of CSP's honors students.

            Mr. Cerny's words were quite inspiring. He encouraged the honors class to find exactly what they wanted to do. He even asked individuals if they were having trouble incorporating their different interests into one career. Mr. Cerny emboldened the class to not only follow dreams, but to follow every aspect of one's interests and develop a perfect career. He assured that where there is nothing, is where there needs to be something. If one's ideal interests create a career that seemingly doesn't exist, then it is worth trying to fill that vacancy. He spoke of the need to put oneself on a limb and be ambitious. He used an example of applying at an oceanography institute when he was in the eighth grade. This was something that obviously was not going to happen, but the fact that he tried showed how determined of a man he is, and a boy he was. The point of Cerny's words was to follow one's dreams and be whatever one wants to be, regardless of what society has told them or whether it has been done before.

            Personally, I was amazed by Mr. Cerny's confidence. In fact, part of me feels that he was overconfident. His words were inspiring, but in most cases unrealistic. The idea of creating something where there is nothing is a beautiful concept in theory, but in reality, it rarely works out. Something tells me that Mr. Cerny comes from privilege and had more opportunities than the average person. Many people do not have the freedom to follow their dreams because they have to ensure they will have a career in order to pay off college bills. Like anybody, I would love to get multiple degrees and combine them to create a perfect job, but the reality of the situation is that not everyone can afford basic, community college, let alone prestigious universities. JoBe Cerny was a very nice, inspiring man, but I think he needed to be a little more down to earth.