When I learnt that Steve Jobs died this morning I didn’t plan to write a post about it; I already published my “thank you” when he resigned with an empty post, because words didn’t seem necessary (or sufficient) to explain what grew inside of me in the last 21 years. I bought my first Macintosh in 1990 (it was my very first computer too) and it was love at first sight: since then, my relationship with Apple has been kind of symbiotical and very difficult to explain, hence the decision to let it go without words.
Then something unexpected happened: friends began to text, message or even call me to share their grief and tell me they’re sorry, as if a relative of mine has just passed away. And this is actually my real feeling: a friend has gone, a friend I’ve never met.
This makes clear once and for all my weird relationship with some objects: it’s not, it has never been a matter of technology. Jobs’ secret recipe for success is like The Purloined Letter, standing clear in front of our eyes. Jobs didn’t pursue wealth, success, market share, popularity, he pursued a vision, he stuck to his own vision with authentic commitment and without compromising. But, since it wasn’t just an a priori idea, with the necessary openness too: no vision is such if it’s not accompanied by the capacity to see the world, meet it, deal with it, change it and be changed by it every second of our life.
Even if I feel the loss as I lost a friend, I feel at the same time lucky for what all of this has been – and will be in the future – for me, for my life, for my vision.
I feel filled much more than empty, in this regard, and for this I’m grateful.
To infinity and beyond
Comments are closed. Linkbacks are open.
This is why comments are closed. A very brief comment? Tweet it to @cmgaston.