🔒 Premium: Genius of Steve Jobs reflected in this Marcus Aurelius-type note to self.

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The wallpaper on my iPad is a pic of the late Steve Jobs – a reminder of the genius of a man who has given the world so much. For instance, his 2005 Stanford Commencement Speech remains my go-to place for a pick-me-up. And Isaacson’s biography, one of the books I return to often.

___STEADY_PAYWALL___

So I was delighted to discover his widow Laurene Powell Jobs, is releasing material relating to Apple’s founder through the Steve Jobs Archive. Its home page kicks off with an email written to himself just over a year before he died after a long fight against pancreatic cancer.

This note to self is a Marcus Aurelius-type study in humility. And a reminder to all of us of what really matters. It reads:

I grow little of the food I eat, and of the little I do grow I did not breed or perfect the seeds.
I do not make any of my own clothing.
I speak a language I did not invent or refine.
I did not discover the mathematics I use.
I am protected by freedoms and laws I did not conceive of or legislate, and do not enforce or adjudicate.
I am moved by music I did not create myself.
When I needed medical attention, I was helpless to help myself survive.
I did not invent the transistor, the microprocessor, object oriented programming, or most of the technology I work with.
I love and admire my species, living and dead, and am totally dependent on them for my life and well being.

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