The Innovator

As many of you may have heard, Steve Jobs lost his long battle with cancer. If you don't know who Steve Jobs is (and you should be ashamed of yourself if you don't), he was the founder and former CEO of Apple, and the chief executive of Pixar Animation Studios (yup, there would be no Toy Story if it wasn't for this guy).

When I first found out of Steve Job's passing (ironically, on my beautiful white iPhone 4), I was shocked and kind of in disbelief. It shouldn't have came in surprise; I knew he was fighting pancreatic cancer for a long time and I knew his resignation as CEO in August of this year meant that he didn't have much time left. But for some odd reason, I felt like someone punched me in the stomach. My eyes welled.

Usually when some famous person passes away, I do the mandatory "R.I.P. so and so" Facebook status and tweet and then move on with my life. However, this time, I just couldn't stop thinking about him (hence, the reason why I am writing this blog post). Why? Why do I feel as if someone I knew left me?

And then I thought about it. This man was a genius. He was a perfectionist, with an eye for beauty. He changed the way society runs today. His advancement in technology is ridiculous. I am not even going to go into how his products have impacted the way we live today, because if I did, you would probably spend the next hour trying to finish reading this blog post.

He invented the personal computer and the mouse. I still remember when we got our first PC in our house when I was about four or five years old. That was because of him. I still remember winning an essay contest in eighth grade and using the money I won to buy the first generation iPod nano. I felt like the coolest kid on the block. That was because of him. I still remember being amazed by the fact that I could download any song I wanted without having to buy the whole CD. That was because of him. I still remember my sweet sixteen, when I was surprised with the first generation iPod touch. Again, I felt like the coolest kid on the block. That was because of him. I still remember being mad that my brother got an iPod touch the next month for his birthday. I remember taking ridiculous photos on Photo Booth instead of design a newspaper in class. That was because of him. I remember the excitement of getting the Mac my parents promised me after getting a college scholarship. That was because of him. And I remember feeling like an actual adult after spending my first paycheck on an iPhone 4. That was because of him. Oh, and we cannot forget the hundreds of Pixar movies we grew up watching (and still watch today!). That was because of him.

I feel honored to be able to experience this man's genius creativity first hand. He will be in the history books. Who knows how far technology will advance because of his passion to invent? No one can ever take his place, and I only hope that legacy and innovation goes on to inspire others to do the same.

Rest in peace, Steve Jobs. You will be missed.

Hera