RIP Steve Jobs

I’ve never been a Mac or an Apple guy.   I bought one of those PC clones in 1985 and become a loyal PC man for better or worse, probably worse.  The fact is, I always admired Mac and Apple products and secretly wanted to be an Apple guy.  Out of sheer stubbornness, I never bought an iPod, an iPhone and to date, an iPad.  I don’t feel hip enough – I don’t move in the Apple circle, but aspire to one day.

I always had a lot of respect for Steve Jobs.  He was like the James Bond of technology, so cool and always one step ahead of the game – a hip genius with the compelling and inspiring rags to riches story.

I’ve been listening to clips of the Stanford graduation speech he delivered and have even read the transcript.  One of my teacher colleagues has used it in her class to guide and  inspire adults learning ESOL.  The takeaway:  pursue your passions, whatever they might be.  He talked about listening to your inner voice and not the voice of others.  It’s kind of like the old proverbial saying, “you can be whatever you want to be”, with the caveat that whatever you decide, you have to enjoy doing it.  And the secret to Steve Jobs’ success was that he found something he absolutely enjoyed doing, and of course it helped that he was good at it, really good at it.

At age 56, Steve Jobs was much too young to leave this world.  But his spirit will live on in all that he left the world.  And he left a lot.  RIP Steve Jobs.