You know how somebody famous but not really important or transforming dies — and the media go into a ratings frenzy, and spend 24/7 covering his or her passing, and what his or her life meant to all of us? Because of course it must have meant something!
And you're left with the feeling of either, "Yes, this dead person gave me reason to live," or "What the hell is everyone so upset about?"
We saw it with Diana, Princess of Wales. We saw it with Ronald Reagan. We saw it with Michael Jackson. Each time, we cats were tempted to ask, is all the fuss worth it?
Prior to this past October 5, the answer was, generally, no. But this time, we think the answer is yes. Steve Jobs is definitely worth the fuss.
We cats are old enough to remember the early '80s, when computers were asking us to memorize keyboard strokes to get anything done. And then Steve Jobs came along and gave us a desktop, and icons, and a mouse. Simple as that, easy as pie.
There are only a few people in history about whose passing you'd say, "Gosh, isn't it amazing what human beings can accomplish if they just put their minds to it?"
To which we cats say the following: Isaac Newton. Johannes Gutenberg. William Shakespeare. Galilieo Galilei. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Thomas Jefferson. Ludwig Van Beethoven. Louis Pasteur. Guglielmo Marconi. Marie Curie. Albert Einstein. George Gershwin. Judy Garland. Steve Jobs.
(And no, this list does not include businesspeople like the anti-Semite Henry Ford. We cats are only concerned with people who knew what we wanted before we knew ourselves. You know — artists and scientists? Those folks.)
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