FORESIGHT.

To Mr. Jobs,
You didn’t simply inspire people to be creative, you invented outlets so creativity could simply thrive.  You paved a way for people like me to succeed on our own, but my career was only made possible because you possessed the foresight I didn’t.
I didn’t know how much you impacted my life until I was mature enough to start realizing I am not the only reason I am special.  -You are a legitimate part of why I am special.  I need you to know that I copied you in so many ways simply because I respected and wanted to be you; because you are better than me.  I never copied you because I needed to make a product look like Apple made it (which I know has often been the case).  I copied you out of recognition of a near-perfect track record and perfect execution.  Imitating you makes me feel like your fingerprints are apart of my own ideas, and that has always been a safe place for us all.

No doubt, people will liken your life and tragic death to the death of a celebrity or rockstar.  Needless to say I’ve cried over the like in my own past.  But your contribution to this world was not so elementary to entertain it - it was something far more powerful and far more noble - your contribution to the world was to allow the world to empower itself.

More amazingly, your unparalleled ability to empower people to be creative has become such a normal way of life that it actually has made you invisible to the majority.  Your ideas were breathed into life because you knew it was for the benefit of people who would not celebrate you.  This is precisely why you will not be remembered like a celebrity or a rockstar entertainer.  You were not self-seeking in your greatness and your ideas were not mean to simply “help us forget our problems” -the typical boundary line that so many entertainers are limited to.  You’ve gone to the edge of potential and dared to go beyond for the benefit of others, not just the sport of it or to reap the rewards.  Your ability to share what I believe is among the greatest gifts God blessed one of his children with was, in fact, to better our culture.  Your hands paved a new runway for business, creativity and communication, to which no one has achieved on their own before.  The ambition that you most certainly possessed was, in fact, for the betterment of strangers whom you would never meet.  I am one of them.

In the summer of 1999, my roommate, Ian, and I embarked on a new journey that would truly change our lives forever.  We were in school (Carbondale, Illinois of all places) and Ian began to do research on a better way for us to grow as filmmakers.  The iMac was new, and there was a build you were releasing coined “The DV Special.”  Coupled with the announcement of FireWire, the SONY DSR (DVCAM) series and the G3 tower, you began to build the beginnings of the most monumental change in content creation’s history.  We were 19 years old and had our tickets to ride with you every day for the next decade.  Thanks to the help of our families, Final Cut Pro and the SONY PD150 became our 3rd and 4th roommates.  Barely men, Ian and I began learning the trade of software manipulation through digital capture and motion graphics.  Within two years, we won 5 Emmy’s, went to Cannes, began distributing our self-authored DVDs, changed Southern Illinois University’s media program forever and moved to Los Angeles with nothing except our computers.  Since that day, your tools have taught me how to create and I’ve taught other how to create with them.  And it is through these tools that my own personal stories have been told and shared with so many others.  Thank you.

In my opinion, the “deepest” of all your PIXAR films is “Ratatouille.”  Though the undertones of this film are largely reminiscent of the struggles between a Walt’s original desires for the Disney company and his successor’s failed attempts, the heart of this film is wonderfully grand and pleasantly simple: In the film, Anton Ego doesn’t realize the impact of Gusteau’s doctrine “Anyone can cook.”  But Gusteau was applying the humility of a great leader and mentor by trying to encourage as many people he could that they each possessed the potential for greatness amongst many.  Ego eventually realizes this is what makes us human and best sums up his understanding that “Not everyone is a great cook, but a great cook can come from anywhere.”  

By this act, you have literally created millions of millionaires.  You have enabled millions of artists to create and compete.  You have connected millions of people who are far apart.  You have simplified millions of businesses and their transactions.  You have influenced the look of an art movement and redefined advertising and branding for every company on the globe.  You have inspired the development of other developers and made millions of us contributors of your brand.  And while all this happened to millions of common people, you still had the foresight in 1986 to build an animation studio and managed to entertain us as a hobby.  

I believe the greatest invention of the last 100 years is the iPhone.  I also believe that was your greatest achievement.  The iPhone is the most complex device on the planet that has no manual and requires no training.  I’m convinced that if you were hired to build the space shuttle instead of Lockheed Martin and Boeing, it probably could be flown without much training.  On June 29th, 2007, I excitedly and happily waited with my friend Steve and a few others for the iPhone.  We actually took off work and waited for some 12 hours so we could ensure we would leave with an iPhone that day and be a part of what we recognized as history.  The first photo I took with the iPhone was, appropriately, of an iPhone displaying a picture of an iPhone.  

But as with a device that has become nearly a part of my being, never more than 24 inches away from me at any time day or night,  it was your own invention that serendipitously delivered me and millions of others the news of your death.

 

What you did, Mr. Jobs, that so many others have not dared to do is empower God’s earth with an unparalleled level of potential for great cooks to come from everywhere.  I am but one of many who have taken advantage of your generosity and I only wish I had the foresight to empower others in the way you have empowered me.  

Thank you.  I pray for your salvation in Heaven.
michael