You might be thinking, “Wait, I think a more appropriate title would be “Remembering Steve Jobs, the Great Visionary, Co-Founder and CEO of Apple”. But I intended to stick to my instinct for personal reasons. Honestly, I never really knew much about Steve Jobs and all of his works. I’ve seen Toy Story and some other Pixar-animated movies. I’ve used a Macbook (for the first time) for my Newspaper Layouting class. And sometimes, my friend lets me borrow her ITouch though I haven’t really gotten used to navigating it just yet. And that’s about it.
RIP Steve Jobs, American inventor,Co-founder & CEO of Apple
Mac and Apple. Despite all the hype that’s been going on around those terms for the past few years, those are the words that alienated me for a long time now. I don’t own any Apple gadget yet, but I know Steve Jobs is that highly-popular person who invented Apple. Okay, no big deal for me.
Just about a month ago, I’ve heard on the news that Steve Jobs resigned as the CEO of Apple. On hindsight, I thought “What could possibly go wrong?” And then somewhere along the passing days, the thought just dissipated on my mind. That is until today when I’ve heard that Steve Jobs passed away. It never dawned on me how remarkable he is as a person, until I saw his video when he delivered a commencement speech on the graduating class of Stanford back in 2005.
In exactly 14 minutes and 34 seconds, I have learned a slice of Steve Jobs’s colorful life, from his humble beginnings as a college dropout to his successes in career and personal life. He even managed to touch the sensitive topic of death. I mean, who has the courage to talk about almost facing death in front of a big crowd in a commencement speech? Steve Jobs is the only person I know who did that.
Another thing that struck me on his speech was his road to achieving success. I can completely relate to his journey, when he experienced the highest of highs and the lowest of lows. Sometimes, I feel highly motivated whenever I get commended for a job well done. But more often, I feel unworthy and lose self-confidence especially when I get criticized for my errors. But the gravity of my successes and failures are nothing compared to those of Steve Jobs. If sometimes I feel like the world is closing in on me, what more if I were on his shoes?
Nevertheless, all the shortcomings didn’t stop Steve Jobs in pushing harder and eventually breaking the boundaries on his career. He strived to make use of his creativity wisely, hence turning personal crisis into opportunities. I mean, how awful does it feel to get fired from the empire you built from scratch? But with his determination, he got back to Apple in due time. What a remarkable feat!
There’s a saying that goes, “You never know what you’ve got till it’s gone”. It may sound cliché but many times I’ve proved it to be true. I’ve never got to experience the privilege of meeting Steve Jobs in person but through a short video, he has teached an important lesson in life that I will hold on to until my remaining days here on earth. Quoting the words of the great Steve Jobs, “Your time is limited. Don’t waste it living someone else’s life”. Amen to that!
Who is Steve Jobs? Meeting Steve Jobs, CEO of Apple, for the First Time
