1984 was not like '1984'

by Clifford F. Thies

Steve Jobs, 1955-2011, a man of the mind of epic proportion. The value he created is many times his own personal net worth, estimated at $6 billion. Possibly $1 trillion and possibly even more than that. All of which stays with us, for us to build upon, even though he is no longer with us.

At the time of his breakthrough in personal computers, with the desktop Apple II, the world was nowhere near as free or as rich as it now is. The specter of communism and the economic malaise into which this country fell left us with diminished expectations. We usually think of the political leaders that turned all that around, Ronald Reagan, Margaret Thatcher, Pope John Paul II, Lech Walesa, the Velvet Revolution in Prague, the Singing Revolution in Riga, Yelstin and the patriots of Russia on the tank in Moscow, and the protests at Tiananmen Square. But we should should not forget the roles played by the business sector and by the popular culture. Especially those of us who are engaged in politics not because it is our life, but so we can be free to live our lives. We should remember the businessmen, scientists, artists and other creative geniuses that have so enriched us.

"Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.” Steve Jobs 2005 Stanford University Commencement Address.