About a year ago I emailed Steve Jobs asking for Mac OS X Lion to be distributed on USB sticks so that MacBook Air owners, lacking a disc drive, could easily install it. He replied with a question: 'Why not electronic?'. Why not, indeed. As usual, Steve's mind was already 10 steps ahead; nine months later Lion was released electronically through the new Mac App Store.
I laughed with my friends at how pedestrian I must have sounded. It was like telling a modern farmer that an ox is better than a horse for ploughing, only to have him ask 'Why not use a tractor?'.
Steve's philosophy changed who I was for the positive: it affirmed that there is nothing weird about simultaneously caring for both form and function, that there is no shame in relentlessly striving for perfection. Most of all, I learned that I owe it to me to always be true to myself.
Declaring someone a personal hero can sound hyperbolic, but in this case, I think it is warranted. Steve was one of my heroes.
I'll end with my favourite video on the internet: Steve's 2005 Stanford commencement address.
RIP Steve. I still have my original 5GB iPod.