A Letter to Steve #1
Dear Mr Jobs
Perhaps it
would have been better to have sent this letter before you died but you had
such a knack for developing communication gadgets that I am sure you will find
a pod or a pad or something in the afterlife to enable you to download messages
from earth. I hope that should be upload.
Like so many people, I have been touched by your story. It is the story of an unwanted orphan who created stuff that everyone would want, the story of a man who developed Apple’s famous sense of style after he had dropped out of college and stumbled into a class in ancient calligraphy, the story of a man who brought elegance to the design of information technology but who always dressed to create the impression he didn’t care about appearances, the story of a man whose colleagues described as unstoppable yet who was brought to an unplanned stop in his mid-fifties, the prime of life. Who would not want to pause for a moment to think about all these things?
But I must be honest and say that you embodied a vision of life which I did not share. I teach young men whose world has been shaped by the consumer products you marketed. I wish I had a dollar for every time I have taken one of your gadgets from a student in class and asked the boy to pay attention which is teacher talk for an invitation to inhabit the present moment. Every time we begin a retreat at St Kevin’s we ask the boys to surrender their gadgets for the duration. They don’t find this easy. Indeed, research suggests that the relationship of generation Y with their gadgets is emotional; it is not a phone so much as a bridge to the world, a link to reality, a network of relationships that can fit in your pocket.
This year, our Year 12 boys bravely handed over their i-phones at the start of their overnight retreat at Newman College. Like a twit, I had forgotten to ask them to turn them off or switch them to flight mode or whatever I ought to have done. The phones were stored in my room and all night they rang and beeped and chortled and yelled and sang and whistled and demanded attention. They didn’t stop, even at 3am. By 4am, I was wondering if these things really were our friends. The following weekend I was telling this story to older people at dinner and had to start three times because two of the guests were texting on their i-phones. They looked up for a moment and tutted about the young and their addiction to technology.
In the media this week, you have been compared to Thomas Edison, an endlessly fascinating character. Sure enough, you guys do have a lot in common. You were both ruthless business people, both expert at marketing ideas you have paid others to develop, both highly suspicious of that foolish waste of time known as sleep. But Edison was different. For a start, he was keen to form bonds between his workers at Menlo Park and his famous midnight lunchbreaks for the whole crew were the stuff of legend. More than that, Edison’s inventions were things that people used primarily as a group, ideas that created fellowship. The phonograph, the movie projector, the mimeograph and electric light (especially in streets) all brought people together. Edison’s advertisements often featured family groups. He loved simple board games.
Your legacy, Steve, is rather different. The last decade is the period that has really made your name, bringing us the i-pod (2001), i-phone (2007) and i-pad (2010). These are all devices which people use on their own and, indeed, which create isolation from those around you. You were never interested in the we-pod, we-phone or we-pad. You gave everybody their own island to live on.
In Year 11 English we are doing a unit on the future. This week, the class was asked to think back to 2001, when they were in Grade One, the year of both September 11 and the i-pod. The boys were asked, ‘who was to have greater influence on the future: Osama Bin Laden or Steve Jobs.’ As we talked about the issues, we began to see that the i-pod owed its success partly to the world of fear and suspicion to which Bin Laden contributed. The i-pod, i-phone and i-pad are all modern versions of the walled city; they bring the world to you as a series of consumer choices. You have allowed us to plug in and tune out, safe in our own bubble. There is a good side to this: you have helped us to keep all the complications of a vast world in a handy device. The down side is that we need to look fewer people in the face.
There is much more I would like to say. Far be it from me to judge, but I don’t understand why you avoided giving to charity or philanthropy. I don’t understand why you had so little to say about the human family. I was saddened by the shallow thinking with which you considered your own death. You told young people: ‘don’t be trapped by dogma – which is living with the results of other people’s thinking.’ These words are a recipe for profound loneliness, cutting oneself off from the great wealth of tradition and experience that waits for us from the moment we enter the human story. The least creative people are those who think they start with a clean sheet of paper.
You said ‘Death is very likely the single best invention of Life. It is Life’s change agent.’ This is really where we part company. Death is ultimately the only chance we have to hold on to what is most dear to us. For Christian people, death is the only thing that allows us to live forever. You said that ‘death clears out the old to make way for the new’ as if people become outdated models. On the contrary, death is about relishing the old; it enables the new to appreciate how old it really is. We believe that life itself is the source of more wonder and joy and surprise than a shop full of gadgets.
Like so many people, I have been touched by your story. It is the story of an unwanted orphan who created stuff that everyone would want, the story of a man who developed Apple’s famous sense of style after he had dropped out of college and stumbled into a class in ancient calligraphy, the story of a man who brought elegance to the design of information technology but who always dressed to create the impression he didn’t care about appearances, the story of a man whose colleagues described as unstoppable yet who was brought to an unplanned stop in his mid-fifties, the prime of life. Who would not want to pause for a moment to think about all these things?
But I must be honest and say that you embodied a vision of life which I did not share. I teach young men whose world has been shaped by the consumer products you marketed. I wish I had a dollar for every time I have taken one of your gadgets from a student in class and asked the boy to pay attention which is teacher talk for an invitation to inhabit the present moment. Every time we begin a retreat at St Kevin’s we ask the boys to surrender their gadgets for the duration. They don’t find this easy. Indeed, research suggests that the relationship of generation Y with their gadgets is emotional; it is not a phone so much as a bridge to the world, a link to reality, a network of relationships that can fit in your pocket.
This year, our Year 12 boys bravely handed over their i-phones at the start of their overnight retreat at Newman College. Like a twit, I had forgotten to ask them to turn them off or switch them to flight mode or whatever I ought to have done. The phones were stored in my room and all night they rang and beeped and chortled and yelled and sang and whistled and demanded attention. They didn’t stop, even at 3am. By 4am, I was wondering if these things really were our friends. The following weekend I was telling this story to older people at dinner and had to start three times because two of the guests were texting on their i-phones. They looked up for a moment and tutted about the young and their addiction to technology.
In the media this week, you have been compared to Thomas Edison, an endlessly fascinating character. Sure enough, you guys do have a lot in common. You were both ruthless business people, both expert at marketing ideas you have paid others to develop, both highly suspicious of that foolish waste of time known as sleep. But Edison was different. For a start, he was keen to form bonds between his workers at Menlo Park and his famous midnight lunchbreaks for the whole crew were the stuff of legend. More than that, Edison’s inventions were things that people used primarily as a group, ideas that created fellowship. The phonograph, the movie projector, the mimeograph and electric light (especially in streets) all brought people together. Edison’s advertisements often featured family groups. He loved simple board games.
Your legacy, Steve, is rather different. The last decade is the period that has really made your name, bringing us the i-pod (2001), i-phone (2007) and i-pad (2010). These are all devices which people use on their own and, indeed, which create isolation from those around you. You were never interested in the we-pod, we-phone or we-pad. You gave everybody their own island to live on.
In Year 11 English we are doing a unit on the future. This week, the class was asked to think back to 2001, when they were in Grade One, the year of both September 11 and the i-pod. The boys were asked, ‘who was to have greater influence on the future: Osama Bin Laden or Steve Jobs.’ As we talked about the issues, we began to see that the i-pod owed its success partly to the world of fear and suspicion to which Bin Laden contributed. The i-pod, i-phone and i-pad are all modern versions of the walled city; they bring the world to you as a series of consumer choices. You have allowed us to plug in and tune out, safe in our own bubble. There is a good side to this: you have helped us to keep all the complications of a vast world in a handy device. The down side is that we need to look fewer people in the face.
There is much more I would like to say. Far be it from me to judge, but I don’t understand why you avoided giving to charity or philanthropy. I don’t understand why you had so little to say about the human family. I was saddened by the shallow thinking with which you considered your own death. You told young people: ‘don’t be trapped by dogma – which is living with the results of other people’s thinking.’ These words are a recipe for profound loneliness, cutting oneself off from the great wealth of tradition and experience that waits for us from the moment we enter the human story. The least creative people are those who think they start with a clean sheet of paper.
You said ‘Death is very likely the single best invention of Life. It is Life’s change agent.’ This is really where we part company. Death is ultimately the only chance we have to hold on to what is most dear to us. For Christian people, death is the only thing that allows us to live forever. You said that ‘death clears out the old to make way for the new’ as if people become outdated models. On the contrary, death is about relishing the old; it enables the new to appreciate how old it really is. We believe that life itself is the source of more wonder and joy and surprise than a shop full of gadgets.
Mr Michael McGirr
Head of Faith & Mission
Head of Faith & Mission
St Kevin's College, Toorak
A Letter to Steve #2
Dear Mr Jobs
I apologise for writing two weeks in a row, but
it would be rude not to reply to the messages you have been kindly sending
from stevejobsinheaven@hotmail.com.
I imagined that hotmail would be coming from the other place but I am glad to
be wrong. You say that you have been finding God frustrating. Please remember
that God has seen everything already and is not likely to get excited by ideas
for new consumer products. In my small experience, God is impossible to push
around so you may have to be patient. Before long, you may realise that God’s
ideas are really radical, partly because they are so old.
Of course, you have been an extremely important
person but nevertheless it is unreasonable to expect God to change the Bible
just for you. The Book of Job, the story of a good man who waits patiently and
in confusion on the slow unfolding of the ways of God, has always provided a
lot of food for thought. It is hard to see why it should now be called the Book
of Jobs and tailored to the business market in order to tell the story of a man
who gets things done without regard for those who attempt to stand in his way.
In addition, your idea that the Apple should lead Adam and Eve into paradise,
rather than out of it, is problematic. I understand that you intend to sue God
for the use of the Apple in the Book of Genesis so I will not comment further.
After changing the face of technology three
times in ten years, you may be finding changeless eternity a bit dreary. I am
sure all of us will find it requires some adjustment. Nevertheless, I do have a
few suggestions for projects you could be working on, goodies that you failed
to provide before you left the earth. Perhaps you could get to work on them
now:
1.
i-ron. Allows you to play all your favourite
songs while attending to tedious household chores.
2.
i-ceberg. A phone which avoids detection by
having only a small part poking out of your pocket or bag.
3.
i-rony. A gadget which allows you to appreciate
several layers of meaning at the same time. Unlikely to be popular among
atheists.
4.
i-raq. A device on which you can spend a
fortune without achieving anything.
5.
i-nsurance. A deceptive invention which creates
the impression that you can pay money to prevent pain.
6.
i-gnite. A phone which includes a cigarette
lighter, handy taking calls at the BBQ.
7.
i-talian. A phone which includes a small
decanter for salad dressing.
8.
i-deal. A phone that is strangely always just beyond
your reach.
9.
i-dol. A phone which includes a pop-up mirror
which plays flattering messages to the owner. The premium service allows the
owner to record their own love dedications to themselves.
10.
i-nk. Outmoded technology.
11.
i-vory. A phone with fine piano ring tones.
12.
i-rritant. A device that comes loaded with Bob
Dylan’s Christmas Album free of charge.
13.
i-mmorality. Often sold cheap. Purchasers
report increased loneliness. Comes with built in alarm.
14.
i-dle. Comes with a flat battery.
15.
i-talics. A phone you can use while leaning to
one side.
16.
i-nfuse. Makes tea while you talk on the phone.
17.
i-ngrown. Phone that includes nail clippers.
18.
i-nlocoparentis. A screen which entertains
children all day whilst providing them with a list of expensive things they
want from Santa.
19.
i-diocy. Available to those who have bought all
the other gadgets.
20.
i-rreverence. A phone which only allows you to
communicate superficial messages across very small distances.
21.
i-llness. Passes on unexpected messages which
you often have to think about for a while.
22.
i-nground. Phone designed for inclusion in your
coffin so you can send messages from the other side. Comes with life-time
guarantee.
23.
i-nspiration. Handy device which talks to the
hand that holds it, asking the hand to put it down and do something for people.
24.
i-mmeasurable love. The phone that only God can
use perfectly.
25.
i-solation. The one human invention God has
tried hardest to get rid of.
Mr Michael McGirr
Head of Faith & Mission
Head of Faith & Mission
St Kevin's College , Toorak
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