I have to admit that I have pretended to be a mac-hater from time to time. I say they are harder to use and people only like them because of their sleek advertising. I also have to admit that I only said most of that because of jealousy. I would kiss a snake if it meant I could be writing this blog post on a MacBook Air.
Steve Jobs said, “Leave a dent in the universe.”
And that he did. Jobs was not content to only build an accessible personal computer; he had to make it beautiful. Why stick with desktops when he could revolutionize laptops? No one really needs an iPad, but he made it, so we bought it.
Not to mention the best smartphone and line of MP3 players on the market. Oh, and he saved the music industry that was on its way to extinction.
In his spare time, he took us to infinity and beyond.
Most of that happened in the past decade.
Jobs was born to unwed graduate students who put him up for adoption at birth; his first set of prospective parents turned him down in lieu of a baby girl. Worried his education was too expensive, he dropped out after one semester at Reed College in Oregon. He started Apple, Inc. in his parent’s garage after selling his Volkswagon van for start-up capital.
In 1985, he was fired from the company he started. During the next 12 years, he bought Pixar and started NeXT computers. In 1997, NeXT was bought from Apple, Inc. and Jobs made his ascent back into power. In mid-2004, he was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer–he was initially told that the disease would take his life in three-to-six months. The tumor was later found to be rare but treatable.
“Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose,” said Jobs in his 2005 Stanford University commencement speech.
Jobs also underwent a liver transplant in 2009. He took multiple leaves of absence during the past couple of years due to his poor health before resigning this August.
Jobs’ is a story that can inspire the mac guy in all of us. No matter how many times he was kicked down, he found a way to not only rise back up but to rise a little higher. He lived to see Apple, Inc. become the most valuable company in the world, but when Jobs returned to Apple, Inc. in 1996, the company was struggling to stay afloat. No college education? No problem. Getting fired from your own company? No problem. Pancreatic cancer? No problem.
Jobs thought about everything differently. Dropping out of college gave him the chance to learn about calligraphy. Getting fired from Apple led him to buying Pixar. He believed that there was more to technology than function; it should be beautiful. He saw his own death as an opportunity for others.
“Death is very likely the single best invention of life. It’s life’s change agent. It clears out the old and makes way for the new,” said Jobs.
In honor of possibly the most influential person of our generation, go out into the world and look through different eyes. Make the world more beautiful. Be crazy enough to change things. Don’t be afraid to fail.
