The headlines in the Israeli news are always interesting to me. I know that when they start the radio news broadcast at 6:00 am with something that happened in America I know that thank G-d things are ok here in Israel.
A few days before Yom Kippur the news started with the death of Steve Jobs. I knew that the Israelis would be talking a lot about him because of Israelis’ addiction love for new techologies, but I didn’t really anticipate the “adoration” he received in the press. I was personally a bit annoyed when even my teenage boys talked about it.
I asked one of my sons, “did he have a wife and kids?” My son didn’t know. I then asked him why he didn’t know, and he said that the reporters did not mention it. I went on to ask my son why that was. He had no idea. I told him it was probably because it wasn’t really an important part of his life.
Further reading shows that he did have a wife and four kids, one of which he did not acknowledge at all until she was six years old (I guess climbing the corporate ladder did not leave time for offspring.) He also said later that he wanted someone to write a biography about him so that his children would “get to know me”.
If that isn’t the saddest thing I have heard I don’t know what is.
Many stand in awe of the man because he was creative and he produced things that changed the way we work and communicate. I think that he was smart and innovative, but, so what? He received these gifts from a higher power. I judge people not by what gifts they have received from G-d, but what they do with them, and how they treat others.
This article in Pajamas media shows that he ripped off his Apple Computer partner and was known to be an abrasive personality (read down past the first few paragraphs about the collective grief felt by those in Silicon valley).
Who is your hero? Is it someone rich and famous who is a despicable person, or is it the man you married or the mother who gave birth to you, who is a wonderful spouse or parent? I have no trouble deciding. It bothers me that many in the world are thrown off by the external trappings of success and miss the real things that makes someone a hero.
West Bank Mama 
Oct 10, 2011 @ 06:34:56
Good post about him. Jobs may have been a genius in terms of his ideas, but he wasn’t a mensch. He left many things, but being a father and leaving values is a lot more important.
Oct 10, 2011 @ 07:54:25
You’re mentioned in my post, From a Few Friendly Blogs. Why don’t you check out my comment on your post and read the others linked, too?
Oct 10, 2011 @ 14:12:02
This is one of your first posts I’ve agreed with whole-heartedly. There’s a great article I read about how he was not only despicable in the workplace but about how he cut out Apple’s philanthropy program and didn’t give any of his money to charity nor did he create environmentally friendly products nor did he adequately combat the problem of child labour in his Chinese factories. He was a good businessman, not a hero.
Oct 16, 2011 @ 00:44:40
Oddly enough he did have the following to say about his children:
“Steve made choices,” his close friend Dr.Dean Ornish told the New York Times . “I once asked him if he was glad that he had kids, and he said, ‘It’s 10,000 times better than anything I’ve ever done.’ http://www.thedrum.co.uk/node/81055
It seems to me that his behavior is typical of that of many people totally immersed in their careers: in the end, they regret not spending more time with their children.
Oct 19, 2011 @ 15:48:15
Wow. That was really good.