Image via Flickr, used with permission
Steve Jobs is in a no-win situation right now. Either he’s healthy and he keeps coming to work every day and the question on everyone’s mind remains, “is Steve really healthy?” or, he’s not healthy and he takes some time to go get better, and the question on everyone’s mind remains, “how long is Steve going to live?” In either case, Apple is deprived of the singular focus of its driving force; in either case no one stops wondering about his health.
Many hope beyond hope that Jobs will regain his health and his drive and his focus, that he will return to Apple this summer, or sometime, and lead the company to many more years of innovating and producing products that “put a ding in the universe.”
Some believe his decision Wednesday to absent himself from the day-to-day operations at Apple signals the beginning of the end, that he is taking time to spend with his family and to prepare for his inevitable death coming sooner rather than later. And many wish him all the peace and comfort he can find in the love of those closest to him if such should indeed be the case.
What’s certain is there will be oceans of ink poured into writing about Steve Jobs and the unique place he has made for himself in his life and times. Whether he dies tomorrow or lives another twenty, thirty, fifty years, he has assured for himself a legacy of renown unlike anyone of his generation.
He’s been called a tyrant and a diva, a rock star and a king – and such superlatives are not out of proportion to the impact he has made on the way people live, not only in contemporary times, but on the way people will live long after he is gone.
I saw on Wednesday a piece about Jobs, written by music industry analyst Bob Lefsetz, who laments his feeling Jobs’ demise is imminent, saying his death “will be like the loss of Lennon. We will feel collectively that we’ve lost something that can’t be replaced.” And I have no doubt many will feel that way.
But the fact is, music didn’t die with the passing of John Lennon, as sad and incomprehensible as his death was, and as big and unfixable a hole as there seemed to be in his absence. His work lives on, for one thing, but also his example and his influence continue to inspire songwriters and musicians a generation later. The John Lennon Educational Tour Bus, ironically, had a prominent place just a week ago at Macworld, where Jobs’ presence was so sorely missed.
The day Steve Jobs dies may seem, as Lefsetz wrote, “like one of those great teen songs, where the lover dies and the singer just can’t move on.” But, like Lennon, his work will also live on. His example and his influence will continue to inspire people in many walks of life, I daresay, for generations to come. And that is something to be happy about.
10 responses to “Like Rock and Roll, Steve Jobs Can Never Die”
I’m praying for Steve Jobs, I saw a picture of him, and his body is not doing good. I think what sets him apart from other innovators of his era, is he has stuck to a vision and proved that it could work. He made it personal for the end user, he did great stuff that sunk… NextCubes, he stuck with it though, and how OS X came out of that misery. Remember when he so wanted ITC Gorilla as a core font for the Mac os? Looking back, its good to see he did not get it!
Steve Jobs, I am praying for you and your family. God bless you and may you see Gods Grace as you go through this very difficult time.
Ultimately Steve Jobs is just a man. A great man with a terrific vision, but the media and investors need to cut him some slack. Apple will not implode without him, and he deserves some time to get well. God bless, Steve, and get well soon.
1. all this talk about being without their ‘driving focus’ neglects this 21st century thing called teleconferencing. Steve is part of why there’s a widdle camera in every mac and software that lets you talk to folks from miles away via the Internet.
2. Just because he’s, gasp, taking some time off to concentrate on his health doesn’t mean he’s dying. it means what it means. he is going to trust in the team he’s handpicked and developed over the past 11 years to follow the lead and example that he’s set up, to follow plans that they probably hashed out in detail already to set up whatever is going to happen this summer (what you think Steve dreams these things up and makes them happen overnight. not)
3. is anyone really shocked that he’s taking a leave. the only shock might be that he didn’t announce it in the previous letter. but perhaps the plans weren’t finalized. perhaps he was trying to not take all the focus off of Phil etc. Or perhaps he only decided to do this because the cancer and he’s dying rumors didn’t die when he was forced to give up his last shred of privacy and figured the rumors would flare up when some stalkerazzi noticed his car was missing at Apple HQ.
When Apple loses Steve Jobs, for me it will be like the breakup of the Beatles. It’s trite but true… all good things must come to an end. At this point in my life (I’m the same age as Steve) I find myself appreciating the past more and more. Some may call it, living in the past. I call it being thankful for all good things that have been bestowed upon us. Take it easy Steve, you don’t owe us one more thing. Get well.
The death of JOHN LENNON ~ murdered, it is believed my some, by a mind-controlled assassin did not, of course, mean that music died… but it kinda killed-off more music-making that advocated world peace. (Not something the armaments manufacturers are really keen on.) Here’s a resource:
http://www.john-lennon.com/the…
And don’t forget (please) the carefully engineered “accident” (in a Paris tunnel) that removed Princess Diana from the world stage. By the way, speaking through at least one of her mediums, Diana has said she met-up with John Lennon. She spoke very highly of him and referred to him as “a prophet”…..”I hope some day you’ll join us, and then the world will be as One.”
Leander nearby helpfully remembers for all of us who love this Apple guy (so much more than the “salesman” he’s dismissed as) that the Great J always knew that his time with us would not be long. The internal pressure… thinking that Their Time is even less, is common in visionaries: it helps ensure they get done at least most if not all of what they came to do.
I am quite convinced that Steve Jobs is an ET (one of many) who volunteered to come and help us all advance.
It is touching to see here – and other regions of cyberspace (essentially an aspect of the Superconciousness of humanity) – many prayers ~ rest assured they are helpful… if not, perhaps, to override this great soul’s prior freewill choice or (if you prefer) the Will of God, then they can (because thoughts are “things” and are recorded) be presented in due course to the spirit of Jobs, not unlike earthly ‘birthday best wishes’. (Diana, speaking through another medium, said she “read all messages to her, in all languages”)
For those (there are always some) who will take umbrage at these decent folks who pray and invoke The Creator (though maybe not going so far as to WANT the death of Steve Jobs and actually looking forward to celebrating that inevitability, for such as they exist) just let me try to help YOU by including another resource, an excellent one compiled by a Muslim scholar (remembering that Islam is the one major world religion that HAD done most to advance Science):
http://www.darwinismrefuted.co…
WHATEVER HAPPENS… Steve Jobs will never die. He never could. He never will.
(And neither will YOU, whoever you are, wherever you be, whatever you believe)
Lonnie! ~ God Bless You too.