He Who Dies With the Most Toys, Still Dies

Today was an odd day for me. Two deaths. Two men that I didn't know. Two men who influenced my life. One because of who he was and the other because of what he wrote.

I have loosely followed the life and wisdom of Steve Jobs. Initially, I followed Apple because it was a company that I wanted to invest in- many years ago. Jobs has always been one of my heroes. He is the embodiment of the American dream. Jobs is what every one of us would want to be- if only we could find a way. Jobs had 300 patents assigned to him. He was a modern day Thomas Edison. I had read Jobs' 1985 interview with Playboy which was quite visionary. It is featured on ZeroHedge today. I was also one of the first to see the Pirates of Silicon Valley when it came out. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pirates_of_Silicon_Valley

I have also used Jobs' commencement address at Stanford many times. Embedded it on this site. In fact I think it is one of the best addresses, speeches, life instructions that I have ever heard. Period.



I felt the same pit in my stomach today that I did when Randy Pausch of the "Last Lecture" (a fantastic book) died. Pausch died way too young with the same disease that claimed Steve Jobs. Weird.  http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-5700431505846055184

I am left wondering why do guys like Jobs have to exit the planet so early?
You know what I don't get? I have been reading nothing but jealous and nasty comments all over the web about Jobs. Vilifying him. For stupid shit. Like trying to make large profits, or enlarging margins by using overseas manufacturing. Doing the stuff we all would if we could. Big deal. The government gave the world free trade and we got stuck with the losing hand.

Jobs is one of the greatest stories of my lifetime. One of the few role models we had left. I mean that.

The other man who influenced my life a great deal died this week as well. All he ever did was write a weekly column in the Moonbat Express. Pat Murphy, newspaperman.

Murphy was a card carrying moonbat despite the fact that he was a Korean War Vet. Murphy despised anything not associated with the Democrats, he hated Bush and he liked Obama. I don't care what position the moonbats held, environmental issues or the belief that more government is always better, Murphy always agreed. Any kind of Republican, man or idea, was met with contempt.

Week after week I would read Murphy's writing. The dude nearly gave me an aneurysm. I can honestly say, I hated his writing and I really did quit reading his column for awhile. I did note that he hadn't been himself lately. I didn't know he was sick. I've linked his bosses' story about Pat Murphy's life here: http://www.mtexpress.com/index2.php?ID=2005138864 

One of the things you will note is that even though I didn't care for Murphy's writing, that is all I know about Murphy. You can dislike someone's work without hating them, can't you? They are separate subjects aren't they? Murphy may have been a pretty good guy, I will never know. What Murphy did FOR me was infuriate me to the point that I have spent literally thousands of hours becoming aware of what is going on in this country. Through some odd ball conduit, Pat Murphy actually caused me to become a more informed citizen. And I will tell you this, thousands of hours later, I am glad he was who he was. Had I agreed with his crazy positions, I would not be one bit better for it. I might be running around to this day- wanting more debt, more taxes, more government.

Years ago, I was having some blog war about the elite in this country when the site owner introduced me to the title of  today's piece. Some people show us what they believe (good or bad) and as a result- we decide what kind of men we want to be.

Comments

Anonymous said…
Job was indeed a remarkable human being. Thanks for sharing that video. I can see why you were moved by his words.
Video said…
Thank you for great post.

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