I was shocked to hear one of my sons disparage Steve Jobs.  I don’t know much about the man – he was an intensely private person as all the news stories reiterate.  I didn’t know that he was not much of a philanthropist.  At least not that we know of.  I contest the notion that just because his name isn’t plastered on buildings all over the country that he of course didn’t give money privately.  Ultimately that is none of our business.  My parents always pointed out how classy it was when people would donate to the church or school play or whatever and just sign themselves “Anonymous.”  They didn’t do it for the laud and honor.    I don’t know if Steve did that and can’t really comment one way or the other on the philanthropy issue.  It’s just something to think about.

One thing I do know is that he was insanely creative and determined.  I find it interesting that one person can change the world so drastically for the better and still be judged for his perceived faults.  I do know that his famous Stanford commencement speech made me so happy, especially that it was given at Stanford, in front of a crowd of students, many whose parents had never said anything remotely like what he said – follow your heart.  It was how I tried to raise my children, and in an area where shooting for Stanford and the pressure to live up to your parents’ dreams for your future was more common than not.  It is how I have tried (and often fallen short) to live my own life.

I do know that when Al started his business back in 1988, when the babies were in bed I would sit down at the old electric typewriter and type out his bills, the pile growing higher and taking longer as his business began to succeed.  I remember our first computer, how despite two college degrees I didn’t know what that little arrow on the screen was for, or what those little pictures meant.  I remember the first time I heard that magic sound of the beeps and bings and grinding as the internet connected me to the rest of the world.  Now I just finished a week of training my co-workers how to use a laptop for point-of-care medical documentation.

I do know that no matter what anyone says about the Apple Company, and heaven knows I’ve had my moments, the idea that I could recently toss my vinyl record albums (calm down vinyl lovers, I’m sure they found a good home) and just carry a thousand of my favorite songs on a little pink lightweight rectangle no bigger than a baseball card is amazing to me…and very very life giving – I love music, it feeds me.

I do know that it would have been inconceivable twenty years ago that I could write this note to you, push a button and you could see it in seconds.  I also know that Steve Jobs did not make all this happen single handedly.  What he did do was pique our imaginations – when I say “our” I mean the imaginations of people my age in the real world of pen and paper. We were dopes compared to our computer geek peers.   Computers seemed so foreign, so out of our reach, so 2001: A Space Odyssey. Apple made it ours, too, not just for the geeks.  He forgave us, and shared his passion with us.  Younger people who were born with a computer mouse in their hands don’t understand now why we grieve his passing.  It’s not just about him, it’s about us, too.  He grew up with us, and we were in the “in crowd” because he made it so.

A few years back when I finally convinced my Mom to get a computer (no, you do not get to know her age, but let’s just say people much younger than her pooh-pooh getting a computer because they are “too old”), my brother and sister insisted on a Mac for its ease of use and sure enough, Grandma now emails and sends jokes and Skypes and researches whatever her little heart desires.

I actually believe that the internet and computer technology is the answer to many of our problems on our little jewel in the universe .  Information happens so much faster, the projects we need to work on are literally at our fingertips. I believe it will ultimately lead to peace.   First it may have to lead to increased agitation, but instead of two exchange students – on Palestinian and one Israeli – meeting and trying to convince their friends back home that the other is really not so bad, many Palestinian kids and many Israeli kids can, at the click of a mouse, find out they have more in common than they thought.  This was undoubtedly made easier to do because of the genius of a man who shared his intelligence and his dream with us.  Perhaps philanthropy isn’t just about cash.

Thanks, Steve.  You did good.