Friends, Geeks, Countrymen
Lend me your eyes
I come here to remember him
Not to praise him
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.