“If Apple becomes a place where computers are a commodity item, where the romance is gone, and where people forget that computers are the most incredible invention that has ever been invented, I’ll feel I have lost Apple. But if I’m a million miles away, and all those people still feel those things… then I will feel that my genes are still there.”
Steve Jobs doing what he did best
Steven Paul Jobs came into the world on a cold and rainy day in San Francisco in February, 1955.   It was the 24th to be exact and with temperatures in the low 40’s there was a hint of snow in the air. There was no fanfare, no party or celebration to mark this new life’s entrance into the world.  There was only concern and doubt by the two parents of what the future would bring. You see Steve Jobs biological mother was an unwed grad student named Joanna Schieble; his biological father, Abdulfattah John Jandali, a Syrian immigrant,  would later become a Political Science Professor. Both were young and the times being what they were both agreed it would be best to put their new baby up for adoption. Soon after they did a young couple, Paul and Clara Jobs, adopted him and quickly named their new son, Steven Paul Jobs.
Steve Jobs early school years were no different than most of us who grew up in those times. All play and very little school work. Then in the 4th grade things began to change thanks to his 4th grade teacher Imogene “Teddy” Hill. Of her Jobs once said,
“She was one of the saints of my life. She taught an advanced fourth grade class, and it took her about a month to get hip to my situation. She bribed me into learning.”
Jobs at 14
And indeed she did. She would give him candy and $5 from her own money for every lesson he turned in. It didn’t take him long to realize that he not only had a knack for school work but that he actually liked it. When he was 11 his family moved to a quiet street in a cozy area of Los Altos, California; an area that would later be known by its more familiar name “Silicon Valley”. It would be there, in the garage of his childhood home where “Apple” would be born.
“People think focus means saying yes to the thing you’ve got to focus on. But that’s not what it means at all. It means saying no to the hundred other good ideas that there are. You have to pick carefully.”
Steve Wozniak friend and co founder of “Apple” met Steve Jobs in 1969; Jobs was 14 Wozniak 19. Of Jobs Wozniak once said,
Jobs and Wozniak
“Typically, it was really hard for me to explain to people the kind of design stuff I worked on, but Steve got it right away. And I liked him. He was kind of skinny and wiry and full of energy. […] Steve and I got close right away, even though he was still in high school […]. We talked electronics, we talked about music we liked, and we traded stories about pranks we’d pulled”.
And that included the pairs first business venture together; selling a little device called a “Blue Box” that once hooked up to a phone line allowed the person to make calls anywhere in the world free. They sold a lot of these “illegal” devices to the Berkeley college students until they were almost caught by the police. After that they decided to stop.
“After six months, I couldn’t see the value in it. I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life and no idea how college was going to help me figure it out. And here I was spending all of the money my parents had saved their entire life. So I decided to drop out and trust that it would all work out OK. It was pretty scary at the time, but looking back it was one of the best decisions I ever made. The minute I dropped out I could stop taking the required classes that didn’t interest me, and begin dropping in on the ones that looked interesting.
It wasn’t all romantic. I didn’t have a dorm room, so I slept on the floor in friends’ rooms, I returned coke bottles for the 5¢ deposits to buy food with, and I would walk the 7 miles across town every Sunday night to get one good meal a week at the Hare Krishna temple. I loved it.”
In 1974 Jobs was broke and forced to take a job at the video game manufacturer “Atari.” Then in 1976, Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak and Ronald Wayne, with the help of a semi-retired Intel product-marketing manager and engineer A.C. “Mike” Markkula Jr., got together and Apple was born.
“I get asked a lot why Apple’s customers are so loyal. It’s not because they belong to the Church of Mac! That’s ridiculous. It’s because when you buy our products, and three months later you get stuck on something, you quickly figure out [how to get past it]. And you think, “Wow, someone over there at Apple actually thought of this!”
The Macintosh-And the world changed
When I bought one of the brand new Apple Macintosh computers way back before computers had color screens and removable hard drives, you know prehistoric times, 1984, I marveled at how easy the Mac was to not only set up; all you had to do was plug it in, but how easy it was to use. It rarely ever bombed and it was much easier to see the gray scale monitor than that hideous green one everyone else was using. I still remember the original Macintosh commercial and how it sent chills down my spine as I watched it. That commercial gave the world the first hint of the kind of person Steve Jobs was. It gave the world only the smallest hint of what the rest of us were in for. The ideas that were spawned in that small garage in Los Altos so long ago shaped and changed the look and functionality of today’s world; the way we all live and do business; they way we communicate. I believe the world is a better place for it too.
“My job is to not be easy on people. My job is to make them better.”
Was Steve Jobs hard to work with and work for? Absolutely; I have found that most people who have a vision are. They can see all too clearly where they want to go and how they want to get there and don’t fully understand why the rest of us don’t see it too. They are impatient because they have a lot to do and they know they only have a limited amount of time to do it. Steve Paul Jobses time came to a premature end yesterday October 5th, 2011; he died at the young age of 56 after a long battle with Pancreatic Cancer. Though most thought his greatest love was his Apple Computer those that knew him said it was his wife of 20 years Laurene and their son and two daughters. Our prayers and sympathies go out to them.
“No one wants to die. Even people who want to go to heaven don’t want to die to get there. And yet death is the destination we all share. No one has ever escaped it. And that is as it should be, because Death is very likely the single best invention of Life. It is Life’s change agent. It clears out the old to make way for the new. Right now the new is you, but someday not too long from now, you will gradually become the old and be cleared away. Sorry to be so dramatic, but it is quite true.”
[Stanford commencement speech, June 2005]
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A true success story and visionary. How much more he was capable of we won’t know, but I’m sure his fertile mind had more gadgets to be invented. He revived Apple from a future of mediocrity. I had worked on a few of the Mac events at the Javits Convention Center in NY and heard him speak several times. Passionate about his craft and it resonated with those around him. He has certainly left his mark on the Earth due to his countless achievements. But death is only the first stop after this world. He had a blessed life I would pray that he knew the Lord. Of all our achievements here on Earth, the only one that is important after we close our eyes for the last time is having the redemption of Jesus, avoiding judgment and the second death. Not to turn this into a Biblical rally but with all the talk of death, all we know about death is what is told to us in God’s Word, and it is quite clear. Praying for God’s strength and comfort for his family and friends who were not done enjoying him.