The Hero of Today: Steve Jobs

Oct 5 - by Anya Marinovich

This evening browsing the Internet just hit me between the eyes – Steve Jobs has died. After a wave of shock, my first thought was: “His passing will leave a huge vacuum that can’t be filled”. And then seconds later: “He touched my life even though we have never met”.

So what is it that makes a person defy the common path and go and create something that has never existed before? The iPhone that is sitting right by my MacBook is the physical proof of the extraordinary abilities of one man. Then what about the rest of us?

Having seen a number of his inspirational speeches the only explanation to the phenomena of Steve Jobs that I can come up with is that he actually lived what he spoke about. You can Google Steve Jobs’ name and within every video you will find points and tid bits on the phylosophy of life that he followed. He came from the humble beginnings, he was adopted, he quit college, he didn’t fit the cookie cutter. But he sticked with what he loved doing. And look at the result!

What strikes me the most is the scale of the growth that he achieved between the ages of 20 (when he started working on Mac in his garage) and 56, today. In the psychology world, there is an exercise where you write your own Eulogy. What would people say about you let’s say 30 years from now? And then you write your Eulogy if you were to die tomorrow. The discrepancy between who we are today and who we want to be (and to be known for) by the time we die, is usually what we still need to accomplish. In Steve’s case, I do not think he could have envisioned the Change he was about to bring, but what’s even more important, he never stopped at any intermediate point of his success. There was always a new generation of a product that he had a vision for. How many of us go beyond the original vision of success? Or more importantly, how many of us challenge ourselves to even dare to dream beyond that?

Every accomplishment of the future starts with where we are today, what we have overcome up till now and steps we will choose to take from now and onwards. Many times they don’t seem to fit. At least not easily. And it makes us wonder and rethink our goals. And most dangerously, it makes us try to stop and to return to the safer grounds.

I have lost my husband Adrian to brain cancer six months ago and being left with many bits of a puzzle that still do not fit together, I resonate deeply with the point that Steve made in 2005: “You can’t connect the dots looking forward. Believing that the dots will connect down the road will give you the confidence to follow your heart even when it leads you off the well worn path.” The dots that Steve is talking about are the twists and turns and challenges in life. Can you imagine choosing to believe that everything that happens, happens for a reason, that every challenge is there to lead us towards our  life’s purpose? Listen, its taking me a lot of effort to choose seeing my husband’s passing as one of those dots that will connect me to some greater Good that I am supposed to bring into this world. There are days when I can’t wrap my mind around the thought that my Soul mate is not by my side any longer. Does it make sense? Not it my world! But making a choice to believe that there is a reason for everything that’s happening in my life, is what’s keeping me from a much greater trouble – despair. So I choose to belive. I know I will get there, somewhere, and so will you.

To me, Steve Jobs is a Hero. He knew what he wanted to do in life, he percervered, he challenged himself, he went way beyond what is considered to be the comfort zone for any man or woman out there. He had a gift. And he used it wisely. He used it geniously and generously. Every one of us has a gift. The question is, what are you doing with yours?

Rest in Peace, Steve Jobs. Your legacy will remain. Always.

Most sincerely,

Anya Marinovich
Film maker’s wife and a Spokesperson for A Hero On Every Block

“Be a Hero!”