Thursday, October 6, 2011

Thanks for All that You Did, Steve Jobs, and Rest in Peace

I got up early this morning, as I usually do, to do what I love -- get ready for teaching my class today and working on research.

I first checked the news online to read that Steve Jobs, the great technology innovator, and Apple co-founder, has died.

The remembrances, tributes, and accolades are filling up both the virtual world and the real world and they are coming in from President Obama to Mark Zuckerberg, the founder and chief executive of Facebook.

Even one of our local papers has an article with the headline:

The world reacts to the death of Apple co-founder Steve Jobs with kind words, tributes and makeshift shrines

Steve Jobs taught us all how to live, work, and how to create.

In Steve Jobs' own words:

"Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work," Jobs said in a 2005 commencement speech at Stanford University, following a battle with cancer. "And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven't found it yet, keep looking. Don't settle. As with all matters of the heart, you'll know when you find it. And, like any great relationship, it just gets better and better as the years roll on. So keep looking until you find it. Don't settle."

"Remembering that I'll be dead soon is the most important tool I've ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life," Jobs said. "Because almost everything - all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure - these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart."

Rest in peace, great one, and thank you.