Like many people I was very sad to hear about Steve Jobs' death. I was actually surprised at my reaction. I wouldn't have called myself a fan of his or a friend. But when I found out about his death, I felt like I just lost something.
I think many have felt this way and we can't really put our finger on it. None of us felt this attachment while he was alive (although his periodic reveals of new products were exciting) but now that he is dead we feel the lesser for it.
I was encouraged at how he overcame the odds of being adopted and not staying in school. I was bolstered in my own difficulties in hearing how he was ousted from a company he formed only to be begged back into it.
But there is a strange side to Steve Jobs that is unnerving. He credits taking acid a few times in life for his ability to think outside the box. Weird. And some say it was his embrace of alternative healing methods that likely made his condition worsen.
He was a very interesting and complicated kind of person. A riddle in some respects. In some ways that is refreshing and in other ways a little disturbing. I don't know why - perhaps it is because that is not what you expect from someone like Jobs.
And I can't help but think what it is like for him now. I know, my skeptic friends would answer, "he is gone, done - its over." But what is it like for him right now if that is not the case? What kind of Steve Jobs shows up in that scenario?
John- I thought about what you wrote for a few days. I feel odd about his passing. I felt an uneasiness with his passing, almost immediately. I figured out what it is. It is the feeling I have when I sense there could have been more. But there is no way to change it. Jobs had an opportunity to leave a different legacy, but it didn’t happen. That makes me sad and disappointed, but I understand.
ReplyDeleteI will try to learn from it, I think we should all try to learn from it.