The evil that people do Lives after them The good is oft Interr’d with their bones And so it has been with Stephen Paul Jobs
His critics have called him arrogant and insensitive And if it were so They were grievous faults And Jobs is no longer here to answer them,
Here, I speak with the leave of his critics For they are honorable people.
Come I to speak on the death anniversary of Steven, He was intelligent, innovative He changed the world He changed phones He brought tablets He changed computers His changes made technology easier for everyone
But his critics call him arrogant And of course, they are honorable people.
He changed the way we used computers He made them easier to use He took code away and added pictures He made phones about touch rather than buttons He added thousands of songs to your pocket He made apps happy for us He made sure that 1984 was not like 1984
But his critics call him arrogant And of course, they are honorable people.
He changed the way we did presentations Added a touch of theatre and flair He made each product seem a work of art He paid attention to detail like few did Yes, he lost his temper frequently Yes, he could be rude And yet he could be kind too
But his critics call him arrogant And they are honorable people.
There was much to dislike about him. He was not perfect He claimed his child was not his own He lost his temper He raised his voice He was thrown out from his own company He erred He suffered – illness, dismissal, early death
But for his critics, he will always be arrogant And they are honorable people
He could have commanded a massive salary After all, he played a key role in founding the company And then getting it back on its feet Yet from 1997 to 2011 His salary was a single dollar Yes he had shares But those depended on the company’s performance The man backed himself The man had faith
Still, his critics call him arrogant And sure, they are honorable people
He could have asked people to be like him He could have left behind clones But he instead handed the reins to the one Who he knew was best suited for the job His advice was simple Stay hungry Stay foolish For everyone’s time here is limited And should not be spent Living someone else’s life
Know what? His critics will always call him arrogant And they are all, all honorable people,
I speak not to disprove what his critics said But I am here to speak what I do know He changed our lives He made a difference He was the crazy one He played the orchestra He was not perfect Many would not have been his friends Some even celebrate his demise Well, crazy ones are not always liked
Yes, his critics will call him arrogant And remember him for his manners Accuse him of making walled gardens And will say he did not REALLY make The Mac The iPod The iPhone The iPad The Cube The iBook The iMac
…They will say he REALLY made nothing They will say he copied. Perhaps he did But he also put a ding in the universe. A ding that is heard to this day
It is the day of his passing He would have been five and sixty And maybe working on yet another launch. Would he have liked Apple even now? It is not for us to know. No one knew what he actually thought. And that was what made him different. Insane, perhaps But also insanely great.
His critics will always call him arrogant. I will always… Think Different.
Rest in peace, Steve Jobs.
Note: You can read the original speech by Mark Antony here and see Marlon Brando rendering it part of it here.
