Though I am not particulary religious, I pray to whatever higher power there is that the last moments of Steve Jobs life were filled with peace and bliss. I would like to imagine that with his last mortal breath he felt a sense of serenity, a sense of calm, and a sense of fullfillment. I wish this for Steven Paul Jobs the man, not the iconic image that most of us only know him as. I wish this for his wife and his children, the family that he once told U2′s Bono were his “real pride.”
But as much as I wanted to believe this vision, with a design as elegant as the products he imagined and created, it didn’t ring true to me. Perhaps I am greedy, but as I have thought about the passing of Steve Jobs over the past 24 hours, as much as I have tried to focus on the life changing innovations his genius spawned, I find myself feeling bitter about the loss of the things that were to come.
My parent’s generation were crushed by the loss of JFK, and the lingering sorrow of the great things he could have accomplished. I find myself feeling that way about Mr. Jobs. I wanted to watch decades more of his “One More Thing” announcements, to see once again the unveiling of things I could never have imagined, but that he could in his sleep.
But then I felt guilty and selfish as I know that for his loved ones, the “One More Thing” they would have traded the world and all the Apple products in for would be one more day with their “dad” or “husband”.
My real vision of Steve Jobs last moments was one of sadness for the loss of a family he loved, but also one of frustration. I can’t imagine how painful it must have been to actually be Steve Jobs, with a mind, and heart, and soul that was otherworldly. To be Steve Jobs with so many ideas, and so much left to do, knowing that the end was coming. To be Steve Jobs and to know he would not be there to see the final realization of his dreams and ideas.
And then it hit me….
In my limited way of thinking, I imagined his life as journey with a beginning and an end, but people like Steve Jobs don’t think in those terms. In fact, there was no end to his dreams and ideas. To lose him at fifty-six is a tradgedy, but no matter what the age Steve left this earth, we could have rightly wondered what he was left to accomplish.
With that said, I would now like to think that he understood that at the end of his life. That he knew that leaving a life unfinished, meant that it was one lived always looking to the future, with infinite possibilities, and unending potential. One lived to the fullest every waking minute, of every waking hour, of every waking day. One that you should always live in eternal pursuit of “One More Thing”.
I hope that was the way that Steve Jobs left us. And I hope that his loss to his family and friends and those that truly knew him is ever so slightly lightened by knowing that his life and the way he lived it was a greater inspiration and will benefit mankind more than anything else he did.
Don’t forget to check out my new trading tips eBook. Just click the banner below to get it for free.
Why not subscribe to bclund.com for free Via E-mail or Via RSS and follow me on StockTwits and Twitter?
What bclund is, is the intersection of markets, trading, and life (with some punk rock, pop culture, and off-beat humor mixed in). Check out “The Best Of bclund” to get started.
Click here to “Like” the bclund Facebook page.
