Josh First's Blog

Ode to Apple’s Steve Jobs

Steve Jobs influenced my life greatly, even though we did not meet or communicate directly. He will be missed in my own mind, where he long occupied a far-off, small, funky niche in my brain.

His innovative, intuitive, “user-friendly” products appealed to me as a kid and as an adult, and they vastly improved my high school, college, and graduate school experiences. Obviously now, a “professional” isn’t a professional unless he or she has an iPhone or clone firmly grasped in hand.

Learning to program in Basic on an Apple II in high school introduced me to the usefulness of math, a boring as hell subject that I otherwise could not ever grasp from the droning mouth of a boring as hell teacher. Why are math teachers so universally so uninspiring, anyhow?

Apple’s computers were simple, useable, and increasingly intuitive. In grad school, I had a Mac, you know, the big clunky 25-pound thing in its own carry case. Really. Shoulder strap and all. By the day’s standards, it was indeed portable. I refuse to throw it away. There’s Steve Jobs again, in my attic.

In 2005, Jobs gave an unbelievable commencement speech (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UF8uR6Z6KLc) that is so overwhelmingly inspiring that you can watch it and gain much whether you are 18, 28, or 48. Probably a lot of retirees would benefit from it, too, as they look at their second life, you know, life after “work.”

Jobs is a true American in every sense. Self-made, despite being a college drop-out. He didn’t stand on form in person, but his fusions of form and function are now iconic and trend-setting around our planet. It says much about what America offers to those who want it, and his story also is testimony to the importance of family in rearing us, instilling values in us, and supporting us as we grow and take risks. Jobs was adopted at birth, and loved the family that gave him love, not just the family that gave him life.

Steve, I didn’t know you in person, and I never watched one of your famous presentations. But you have been in my mind and my life in different ways and times throughout my adult life, from age 14 to now, at 46. Thank you, Steve, for all you gave me.

Many other people feel the same way.

And as a social entrepreneur myself, I love what I do, and I refuse to settle for doing less than what I love. Although I do not aspire to have a large company or make hundreds of millions of dollars, because those require trade-offs in my personal life that I am unwilling to make, I remain inspired by your work.

Thank you, Steve. Good-bye, old friend.

Josh