[For the most part, I keep my blog very clean. Some things simply cannot be expressed in this way.]
On Friday it was one year since the day Steve Jobs died. None of us will ever forget his long struggle with pancreatic cancer. It sucked. This being said, I don't know Steve Jobs. If he had lived one hundred years or more, I probably would have still never met him. I have a lot of respect for him as an innovator and a leader in an industry. Give it a few years. Someone else will come along and revolutionize the way we compute. People will begin calling him or her "the new Steve Jobs" or "Steve Jobs of the East" or something like that.
About two weeks ago one of my regular customers came in, obviously shaken up: that morning the doctors told him he had pancreatic cancer. Worse, they gave him six months to a year to live. He never did anything to get famous. When he dies, not that many people will know. But I will know.
Who will sit there at my bar and drink a decaf nonfat light whip latte? Who will look out for Jimmy? Who will offer me free guitar lessons repeatedly despite my not taking them?
Every time that I hear about cancer, there is a pain in my soul. As C.S. Lewis says it in
Perelandra
, "Even Maleldil weeps at the thought of death."* This is not how God intended it.
This evening while talking to my roommate, he reminded me that someday this is where we are all headed. To quote
Fight Club, "With a long enough timeline, the survival rate for everyone drops to zero." I hope I don't go this way. I hope it is quick and painless. Whatever the case, it will happen. Then he asked me the question: when it happens, how many people will truly be upset? Am I impacting and influencing people or just getting by? Think about it. It's worth the time.
*That is quoted from memory. It is as I remember. I cannot look it up as I loaned my copy to a friend, and a quick search of the internet did not turn up that particular quote.
[For the most part, I keep my blog very clean. Some things simply cannot be expressed in this way.]
On Friday it was one year since the day Steve Jobs died. None of us will ever forget his long struggle with pancreatic cancer. It sucked. This being said, I don't know Steve Jobs. If he had lived one hundred years or more, I probably would have still never met him. I have a lot of respect for him as an innovator and a leader in an industry. Give it a few years. Someone else will come along and revolutionize the way we compute. People will begin calling him or her "the new Steve Jobs" or "Steve Jobs of the East" or something like that.
About two weeks ago one of my regular customers came in, obviously shaken up: that morning the doctors told him he had pancreatic cancer. Worse, they gave him six months to a year to live. He never did anything to get famous. When he dies, not that many people will know. But I will know.
Who will sit there at my bar and drink a decaf nonfat light whip latte? Who will look out for Jimmy? Who will offer me free guitar lessons repeatedly despite my not taking them?
Every time that I hear about cancer, there is a pain in my soul. As C.S. Lewis says it in
Perelandra, "Even Maleldil weeps at the thought of death."* This is not how God intended it.
This evening while talking to my roommate, he reminded me that someday this is where we are all headed. To quote
Fight Club, "With a long enough timeline, the survival rate for everyone drops to zero." I hope I don't go this way. I hope it is quick and painless. Whatever the case, it will happen. Then he asked me the question: when it happens, how many people will truly be upset? Am I impacting and influencing people or just getting by? Think about it. It's worth the time.
*That is quoted from memory. It is as I remember. I cannot look it up as I loaned my copy to a friend, and a quick search of the internet did not turn up that particular quote.
What a Difference a Year Makes, or Fuck Cancer
I like this Blog very much. It's very true and something I can tell you as you get older you think about more and more.
ReplyDeleteAlso maybe you should take the free lessons even if it's only 1. It might give him a sence of accomplishment ,a little part of him to live on through you even if your the only one whom knows it.It would be a memory you would never forget.
Very thought provoking, Jem. There's so much I want to do before I go. I never know the day that I might cease to breathe, but I find myself living like I have all the time in the world. I know that don't and I've got to start living with that realization.
ReplyDelete