Waking up at 6:40 in the morning before one of the worst Thursdays at school in the year is never a nice experience. As usual, I always check my Twitter feed on my iPhone for the most recent updates around the world until the snooze forces me to wake up to the same routine we all complete every day, but this time, this time was different. Besides being a special Thursday at school, the one we all resent, something on my Twitter feed took me by surprise.
Steve Jobs Has Passed Away tcrn.ch/pc2zGK by @parislemon
At first, I immediately thought what the date was. October 6th. Ok, so there are no joking traditions on October 6th, right? Then I thought that this was some sick twisted joke some hackers managed to post on TechCrunch, until I realized that it was even on the apple website.
It is hard to describe what I felt, or am feeling right now. At the moment of me realizing it was actually true, I froze. Just the sole fact that a visionary died at the age of just 56, leaving behind a family, really saddened me. It was not until a few hours later that I thought about the repercussions for the company. He was a human being first and a CEO second.
Yes, I know there has been a flood of articles like this one, most likely better as well, but this event, or end of an event, is one of the most defining of my technological experience so far. People constantly made fun of me, mind you as a joke that eventually got annoying, about how I looked up to Steve, but while everyone else aspired to be their idols, I admire Steve, all of his qualities and what he has achieved. Just think about this for a moment. One can compare Steve to Edison: he made the first personal computer, which anyone with little experience could buy and utilize. Then he innovated further using Xerox technology and created the first computer to use a GUI, graphical user interface, alongside the first mouse to navigate a computer. Without him, the way we use computers today may have been radically different: imagine if there was no standard USB port on computers…
I do not think I have fully grasped the seriousness of this event. I have never experienced a death of a person I respected (or in the case of my family and friends, loved), so understanding it is becoming difficult. It is hard to imagine the infinity ahead without him. I know that I will one day look back on October 6th, 2011 and tell my family about Steve Jobs and what an inspiration he was to my family and me.
Let me show you 2 quick videos. The first is from my favorite artist, Jonathan Mann, the Song-a-day guy, and the second, an unreleased Think different ad with Steve Jobs narrating.
I am confident that Apple will continue to thrive with Tim Cook at the reigns, but, as with any company, their importance will eventually decline. Steve Jobs was the composer, and Tim Cook, the conductor, but eventually, the audience will want a new symphony and I have no doubt in my mind that it will, one day, be written. That is exactly the reason why I think Apple is such a special company.
Apple will never be the same again, but these days are not its last.
Goodbye Steven Paul Jobs, and we thank you.
