Steve Jobs, a Modern Hero - Essay Example

?Steve Jobs, a Modern Hero Introduction Each generation has its hero, Steve jobs the founder of Apples is the hero of the twenty first century. He isthe hero behind the invention of the iPod, iPhone, and iPad, who died at fifty-six years, a life cut short for such a promising genius. He was among the most influential persons in the globe for the last four decades. So influential he was, but not without authority. He assembled a team that was accordingly competent and conformed to his commands with total fealty. Not just his death, his resignation as Apple’s Chief Executive Officer was a total anguish to the world. The public response to the tremendous death was that only seen in cases involving tales about epic heroes. Like a modern hero, he accepted assistance from his fellows as well as subordinates. In addition, he inspired those he worked with to be better. Fearless to dream, he invented technologies that extremely fulfilled the lives of countless people. This paper focuses on the life of Steve Jobs as a modern hero, triumphing via initiative, technology, and will power, who looks at things from a global perspective. Born on February 24, 1955 to an unmarried Joanne Simpson and Abdufattah Jandari in San Francisco , Steven was given up to adoption and adopted by Clara and Paul Jobs of California who brought him up . His adoptive parents cherished and nurtured his curiosity in electronics. He dropped out of college in 1972 when he felt his parents were struggling too much to educate him and he was still not sure of what he wanted. He foremost saw a computer terminal at NASA’s Ames Research Center. His passion in computers amplified in 1974 when he met his high school friend Steve Wozniak with whom he would attend Homebrew Computer Club. Together they began Apple in 1976, initially working from a garage belonging to Job’s parents (Iwatani & Fowler Web; Robertson Web). Like a hero, Jobs built Apple from what many would call scratch and changed it into a multibillion company. Their first invention Apple I did not receive much hype but Apple II was extensively acknowledged. The voyage of Apple towards victory intensified after Jobs visited Xerol Palo Alto Research Centre and discovered how to manage computers without using typed commands. His engineers at Apple tailored the idea to come up with two great computers, the pricier Lisa and Macintosh (Iwatani & Fowler Web). After this, one invention came after another, from the ‘graphical’ PC of 1984 to Pixer, Apple completely changed the world of computers. It kept building new and better innovations under the guidance of the competent Jobs. He was once pushed out of Apple for eleven years due to discrepancy with Sculley. Even when out of Apple his dream remained sentient, and he opened another company ‘NEXT’. He later rejoined Apples, to find it struggling to remain in the picture but he invigorated the company (Robertson Web). Most fancied of his inventions is the launch of iPod in 2001, a pocket garget that could lug up to 1000 songs. Next came the touch screen iPhone in 2007 coupled by Apple’s App Store in the subsequent year. In 2010, arrived the iPad. These and other innovations ranked Apples as the second biggest company by 2011 in United States. Though most felt that creation of iPad was unimportant, Steve wizardly convinced the world to accept and buy the tablet sized all touch computer. Jobs ideas resulted not only in Apple’s success but also fashioned everything, from Hollywood to music industry. They changed PC as well as digital media industries (Robertson Web). Jobs unreservedly transformed the field of technology, completely revolutionizing the word. He had an entirely diverse way of envisaging things, always believed in himself and brilliant enough to implement what he contemplated. No hero lacks rivals, and Steve did have some, Bill Gates a computer intellect like Jobs was one of them. The difficult path full of the setbacks and disappointments he had to follow to be triumphant as well as the challenges he came across but refused to be conquered by them. His failures should also be a lesson to the world, that we should never view a hero as our ancestors did, someone who can surmount anything. His failure to accept others outlook at times should be among things aspiring heroes should eschew (Robertson Web) Every hero has downfalls and Jobs had a number, some of his innovations did not succeed as he had hoped. An example is the iMac computers and the G4 cube that were quite unpopular. Another downfall that he could not trounce was the pancreatic cancer that ultimately conquered him much as he tried to brawl it through liver transplant and observing his diet (Robertson Web). His death in 2011, due to pancreatic cancer was an indicator that modern hero is replacing the role associated with traditional hero who was mainly depicted as a winner in all combats. A technological innovator who could visualize the future and anthropomorphize it prior to its emergence into many people’s panorama is what best describes Steve. Traditionally, heroes were those who could listen and sympathize with the people before acting. However, Steve unravelled and decoded people’s needs even before they themselves realized what they required. Like a modern hero, Jobs inspired his successor Mr. Cook (Robertson Web). In conclusion, modern hero is the one who can see beyond our time and transform failure into success. As a modern hero, Steve knew he could not conquer all that is why he went to doctors for treatments such as liver transplant. A man who retained his personality when others tried to squash it, admitted defeat at times other than using dictatorship. A good example is when Steve disagreed with Apple board of directors and he choose to leave other than using tyranny, ignoring the great role he had played in founding Apple. To many, Steve’s death left a fissure in the universe, which remains void. A hero whom Apple could not detach from, thus they created a position of chairperson he resigned from active duty to ensure he remained part of them. He left behind a company that many suppose it was only he and nobody else who could have founded it. Luanda Magere, a Myth with a Lesson Most people visualize myths as self-indulgent and exaggerated stories but if taken seriously most of them have lessons or hidden meaning. This paper focuses on a myth, “Luanda Magere” from Kenyan tribe that has much to learn. A good example of a myth about epic heroes is Luo folklore. Luo is a Nilotic speaking tribe found in Kenya within East Africa. The folklore is on a powerful warrior called Luanda Magere who came from Sitho Clan in Kano at the shores of Lake Victoria. He had unearthly powers and was made of stone other than fresh such that arrows, spears or any weapon thrown at him deflected and he could not bleed. The Luo were constantly at war with Nandi, a sub tribe of Kalenjin and from the same region. The Luos would always triumph due to the presence of the superman Luanda Magere (Okoth Web). The Nandi got tired of losing and came up with a plan to marry one of their most beautiful girls to Magere so that she could find out how they could defeat Magere. When the Nandi proposed to Luos that they wanted to make peace with them by offering one of their gorgeous girls as a bride for Magere, the elders objected but Magere went ahead to marry the Nandi girl. When the girl married Magere, she was able to realize that the power of Luanda was concealed in his shadow. She went and told her tribes men who ignited a war with Luo. During the war one of Nandi warrior pierced Magere’s shadow with a spear and he dropped dead and turned into a rock, the Luo lost the battle. Hunters sharpen their spears on the rock Luanda turned into as it signifies good luck. The folklore is up to today told and taught to young children at school (Okoth Web). This myth is a living picture as it surely depicts the real situation. From the post election violence that affected Kenya in 2007, one of the most affected regions was the Lake Victoria region where the Luo and Nandi massacred each other. Such a myth could be ignored but if considered carefully, it clearly depicts that hatred between the two tribes did not erupt due to the election related conflicts but had been in existence for long before. I came across this folklore when I was researching on the Kenya’s 2007- 2008 post election violence. Before reading the mythical folklore, I thought the violence was all about the elections but on reading it, I got an insight that the violence could have been a way of the tribes trying to resolve long time conflicts. The trickster woman in the myth also taught me that not all people are as honourable as we think and that it is right at times to listen to advice. If Luanda had listened to his tribesmen, he would not have died. In conclusion, myths are sure an image of our inner world and should be given mature contemplation as they can accurately tell the genuine truth. Works Cited Iwatani, Yukari & Fowler, Geoffrey. Steven Paul Jobs, 1955- 2011. Wall Street Journal. 5 Oct 2011. Web. 10 May 2012. Okoth, Dan. Luanda Magere: A Legend Whose Spirit Lives on. Afro Articles, 2006. Web. 10 May 2012. < http://www.afroarticles.com/article-dashboard/Article/Luanda-Magere--A-legend-whose-spirit-lives-on/4582> Robertson, Jordan. Steve Jobs Told Us What We Needed Before We Knew. New York: Associated Press, 2011. Web. 10 May 2012. Read More