An Ode to Jobs
Today i was thinking about the impact that Steve Jobs had on the world. During his passing – with all the comments on facebook and twitter from so many different types of people – i started to wonder how he had such an impact on our generation. If i didn’t know any better, by the amount of genuine condolences that was given, i would have thought he was a popular actor or music artist that passed away. But he was a business CEO – and that actually amazes me. He, by far, is the most beloved CEO of our time, maybe of all time even. When we think of CEOs, we imagine a faceless, soul-less, suit of a man – who makes all the decisions behind a dark cloak, absorbing millions of dollars of income for him and his company. We imagine monopolies, and lawyers, and huge power struggles… gosh my mind hurts trying to describe it.
But in stark contrast, we see the lovable Steve Jobs in his black turtle neck and levi jeans, holding up an iphone – and we are captivated by his simplicity. The reason why i think we liked him so much, is because he seemed like a real person trying to make a difference. no shroud of darkness, no mystery. we see him – not in a business suit, not reciting financial mumbo-jumbo about his company’s revenue last quarter, nor trying to slam promote some lackluster device to the public – instead, we saw a man with a dream. Then we saw a man that believed so much in his dream – that the whole world started envisioning it.
Looking at all the shout outs on facebook – i don’t think we really thanked him because of his products. In our hearts, we didn’t thank him because he made the macbooks, or itunes, or the iphones. We thanked him for being everything we want to be. He used our voices to challenge the monopolized computer industry, to combat the rampant music industry, and revolutionized the mobile device industry. He became the one person that stepped left, when the whole world went right. We thanked him because he made HIS dreams, our reality. And yes, we understood that Apple products would cost and arm and a leg – but somehow, we knew that his company WASN’T all about the money. and if we did spend all that money on one of his products, we walked away smiling because we believed in the genius behind it. You made us believe that dreamers still exist and for this we are forever grateful. thank you sir.
