It’s rare for me to be sad over the passing of a public personality. Most “celebrity” deaths just float by as harmless news blurbs. I remember the last time clearly – the morning it was announced that Mitch Hedberg had died. He wasn’t a huge celebrity, but his comedy always made me laugh, and his delivery had a gleeful innocence that never failed to be endearing. Something about Mitch made you feel like you knew him, even if you’d never met.
That happens when someone pours what they are into what they love. The person and the “thing” – whatever it may be – become synonymous, so much that getting to know one feels like getting to know the other. I think that’s why so many people responded to Steve. You looked at what he did, and through it you saw who he was.
Patton Oswalt commented that Steve Jobs was the closest thing we had to Tony Stark. It’s true. He was brilliant, creative, unapologetic, and far ahead of his time. That glowing Apple logo has changed our Earth every bit as much as Stark’s arc reactor changed Marvel’s. Steve brought us the future, and he made it simple, beautiful, and so much fun.
Almost every creative thing I do, I do on a Mac. Every book chapter, every blog entry, every video – a Mac helped it happen. It will continue to be that way, I think, for a very long time. So, when I say thanks to the man I’ve never met, it’s not just because he gave us some cool stuff. It’s because what he created helps me create better. For me, at least, that will be his legacy.