October 6, 2011. Written by Leila Ruth Novales.
Who does not know the immense contribution and difference Steve Jobs made to our world? Who has not fallen in love with his designs?
Without Steve Jobs, digital media technology and consumption would probably have a different story today. Just this one life has impacted the lives of millions–probably billions–of people on this planet for the better.
I lifted the following excerpt from a blog called The Anchoress by Elizabeth Scalia (http://www.patheos.com/community/theanchoress/2011/10/06/steve-jobs-rip/).
"Learning of his death, all I can think of is Deacon Greg’s homily from last week, which discussed, oddly enough, the circumstances of Jobs’ birth:
In 1954, [Joanne Schiebel] was a young unmarried college student who discovered that she was pregnant. In the 1950s, her options were limited. She could have had an abortion – but the procedure was both dangerous and illegal. She could have gotten married, but she wasn’t ready and didn’t want to interrupt her education. Joanne opted, instead, to give birth to the baby and put it up for adoption.
And so it was that in 1955, a California couple named Paul and Clara Jobs adopted a baby boy, born out of wedlock, that they named Steven.
We know him today…as Steve Jobs.
It would not be overstating things to say that Steve Jobs is my generation’s Thomas Edison. As one observer put it, he knew what the world wanted before the world knew that it wanted it.
If you have an iPhone or an iPad or an iPod, or anything remotely resembling them, you can thank Steve Jobs.
If your world has been transformed by the ability to hear a symphony, send a letter, pay a bill, deposit a check, read a book and then buy theater tickets on something roughly the size of a credit card…you can thank Steve Jobs.
And: you can thank Joanne Schiebel.
If you want to know how much one life can matter, there is just one example.
But: imagine if that life had never happened."
(The facts are pretty much accurate as they are related by Steve Jobs himself during his 2005 Standford commencement speech http://www.webpronews.com/steve-jobs-stanford-commencement-2011-10)
While it relates the background of Steve Jobs’ birth, it made me think how the course of world events can change because of one life. Each life is, indeed, truly important and DOES make a difference.
May this one life that has passed on inspire us to make a difference, in our own small way, in this world.
