Here’s to the crazy ones, the misfits, the rebels, the troublemakers, the round pegs in the square holes … the ones who see things differently … they’re not fond of rules…. You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them, but the only thing you can’t do is ignore them because they change things … they push the human race forward, and while some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius, because the ones who are crazy enough to think that they can change the world are the ones who do.
~ Steve Jobs
Being a round peg in a square hole means that all your corners are empty, spaces you are unable to fill, right angles that your curved sides cannot occupy. Steve Jobs passed away and his death makes one (or should make one)pause – if only to dial through their iPod playlists. You pause and think about the things he managed to do in 56 years. You think about how his ideas and his imagination changed how almost ALL of us live our lives. His development of Pixar studios alone was revolutionary. But it is his life lessons that matter most. To believe in oneself so firmly that despite public shame he was not deterred from pursuing his dreams. In fact, he very determinedly professes that had he NOT been fired as the CEO of Apple when he was 30 years old, all of the really good stuff in his life would never have happened. Apple as WE KNOW IT would never have happened. He also wouldn’t have fallen in love with the woman he names as his great love. It is from the adversity of defeat that he returns to his core self, broken down to his most basic elements and in that primitive space….he found what he truly LOVED. He got back at doing what he ALWAYS loved. And from that solid belief in himself came the renaissance that is Apple today.
I will make my Steve Jobs playlist tonight and I will add it to my iPod. It will be a list of songs about dreaming and faith and conviction. He is an astounding icon of resiliency and fortitude. Rest in Peace.