Yes, we often think we won't, but we do. The thing is not to dwell on mistakes, or look back. Or regret.
IMUA! (Hawaiian word meaning onward, forward!)
Please read this article from Booklist, the American Library Association review magazine that comes in both print and online form. It's about the dichotomy who was Apple's Steve Jobs. The author, Will Manley, starts off by writing about how people are remembered, and eulogized.
Which ties in with the memorial service for my uncle, which was part of this post. I knew he was a good man - he was the consummate gentleman, who always made you feel comfortable talking to him. But I didn't know just how hard-working and charitable he was. A coworker mentioned another memorial service, for someone they thought was a bum, but turned out to have been a WWII vet and had a respectable job.
In Walter Isaacson's biography of Steve Jobs - there are 288 requests for this book in my public library catalog. And 47 copies! Isaacson, according to Manley, says Steve Jobs was both creative genius and idea thief. Loving husband and deadbeat dad. Buddhist and cutthroat materialist. Whew!
Finally, Manley says "instead of having an operation that would probably have eradicated the cancer for good, Jobs decided that he would try any number of alternative health remedies to heal himself" - choosing quackery over established medical procedures. And thereby shortening his life. Manley says we should read pp. 452-456, librarians or not. I'm heading to the bookstore!
We have more to learn from Jobs' death than his life, Manley says. But I say, BOTH can teach us something.
This is how my mind works: garbage or good, I take it in. It ferments and somehow I see connections in new things that I read or absorb. I'm not a techie, but I do get report alerts from ZDNet. This one talks about Apple sabotaging the EPUB standard for digital books, by deliberately locking out that standard from iBooks 2.0. Is this a continuation of the cutthroat materialism of Steve Jobs? Is this part of his ultimate corporate legacy?
I don't know about anyone else, but I have NOT fallen for the siren lure of iAnything, which locks you into All Apple, All the Time. I suppose I should look over my shoulder, as Jobs vowed to DESTROY Google for stealing technology for its Android OS.
And how will YOU be remembered?
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I hope to be rememembered as someone, who loved the rain and the wind and the gentle touch of another's hand. "Let it not be said, that because she didn't know WHO she was, she wasn't somebody." IMUA! (I love learning this NEW word.)
ReplyDeleteThough I'm fascinated by how others are remembered, I don't think about how I'll will be. I've already told my husband and son to donate my organs, cremate the rest of me and have a big ol' party. I hope they'll say: "She had fun, and we could hear her laugh across the library lobby!:
ReplyDeleteReading this made me think of the epitaph on the tomb of the British comedian Spike Milligan which reads "I told you I was ill"
ReplyDeleteThat's funny, Russ! Thanks for sharing that!
ReplyDelete