[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UF8uR6Z6KLc] On Wednesday, around 4:30PM, I was in my Adobe Illustrator class and checked my Twitter. And it was through there that I found out Steve Jobs had passed away.
In that moment I could feel the tears welling up and I was blinking them back. I started mourning for a man I never met. I've been thinking about why I felt so overwhelmed by a loss of someone I've never been met. I then realized it was because his vision and creations have been so heavily integrated in my life. From the green screen Apple computers in which I played Number Munchers and Oregon Trail, to my iPod, iPhone, Nano, Powerbook and iMac, his products have been there.
The first time I used Photoshop was in 1997, and I learned it on an iMac. From that class in high school, idea that I could do art and design one day was forever implanted in my mind.
And later, when I was in college, it was on my PowerBook that I've done countless designs for invitations and logos, typed up papers and reports, researched and kept in touch with friends. I still have my Powerbook today, 7 years later and it still running as strong as it could.
I've created playlists for running, driving, thinking, sleeping and so on with iTunes and uploaded it to my iPod, Nano and now my iPhone. My iPhone has been there for me to bid on my beloved Hasselblad, text with friends, email family and friends, share photos and videos with people far away. It has kept track of all my text messages, from my heartaches to happy news, it has documented it all for me. I've tweeted, blogged, emailed, called, photograph, journaled in my iPhone. And now, with my iMac, I'm able to do all my design projects. I have been able to do so much more with all the products this amazing man had envisioned and designed.
My respect for Steve Jobs goes beyond all his products, I admire him for his philosophy and work ethics. He was living proof of what it meant to live out your dreams. And what was even more inspiring was he had experienced failures and setbacks, but used he never gave up. He learned and grew from them. He threw all of himself into his work and demanded only perfection, a trait I greatly admire.
The man was not perfect. He had many faults, but he learned from them and this just shows we can do the same. We will all inevitably make terrible mistakes, but it's how we handle and move forward from them that will build our character. He was philosophical and understood that life was a gift. He understood that the time we have is extremely limited and we cannot waste it living a life we don't believe in. Watching the commencement video, you can see this. This video continues fuel me to keep going on my personal quest.
Although he has passed, his work and life will live on and continue to impact for generations to come. Thank you for all you have done for the world. I will continue to stay hungry, and foolish.
I leave you with one of my favorite quotes from the speech:
Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of others' opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.