In the last 24 hours I’ve seen, read and heard so many tributes to the ways Steve Jobs “changed the world” that it kind of verges on hyperbole. Steve Wozniak was on Today this morning and it sounded as if the sweet, sweet love child of Jesus and Dolly Madison had been tragically crushed under a bus driven by rabid Nazi dingoes.
But I heard one person’s eulogy to Mr. Jobs that really did hit home for me.
Like Steve, she dropped out of college early. After a semester and a half, the idea of growing up to become an English teacher just didn’t have quite enough bang to it. She quit to join the Army. She was going to jump out of planes, learn foreign languages and screw with the heads of whatever bad guys popped up in the wake of communism.
An unexpected pregnancy ambushed that plan and left her spinning. She was a single mom with a beautiful daughter and a supportive family … but no direction.
Eventually she decided to go back to school and become a dental hygienist. Fortunately, that randomly spinning compass of hers had one more unpredictable spin in it. On a whim, just before classes started, she switched to a graphic design program. She liked art, but didn’t really have much (read: ANY) background in computers. She’d never even typed a school paper on a computer before.
That all changed the day she walked into that first Intro to Quark class. Oh, those Macs. They were beautiful. (For me, the amazing thing about a Mac is the way that it plays both ends of the spectrum. It’s so easy to get started with… But it’s not an entry-level machine. Quite the opposite. It’s amazingly powerful and does fantastic things that other computers just can’t do.)
She grew and learned and the Mac became her totem – her own little bondi-blue spirit animal helper. She had an eye for design, but what really drove her was a relentless search for answers that would combine creative aesthetic with practical functionality. Over time she quit accepting half-assed crap and began demanding more from herself and the people she works with. And – seriously – she learned that from watching the footsteps of Apple.
Today she has a drive and a passion for beauty with purpose. It makes her very good at her job and it makes her continuously fascinating to live and work with.
So this is what I have to say on the occasion of Steve Jobs’ passing. Thank you, Steve. Thank you for the huge role you played in making my wife the amazing, creative, techie dork that I love.
GREG SKOOG 