Limelight: Apple orchard By Lubna Abdel Aziz It started as the forbidden fruit, and grew to become the most desired fruit of modern technology. As the 21st century lamen ts the loss of its most remarkable son, one Steve Jobs, the global population rejoices in his vision and genius, which has literally, put the world in the palm of their hands. This amazing creature, also started life as an undesired child. Born to an unmarried couple, the father, a Syian young man, Abdulfattah Jandoli, and the mother, a graduate student, Joanne Schieble, the child was immediately given up for adoption. The proud Syrian father, thought it too shameful for his traditionally conservative family to accept a son born out of wedlock. It was a decision he lived to regret, as he never got to meet the son who became the pride of the century. in Northern California. Until his dying day, he never made contact with his biological father. Could this have had such a profound impact on his life, it charged him to impact so deeply the life of others? No doubt, the world is far better for him. He quickened our passion, enlightened our path and redefined our century. Steve Jobs has improved our lives so personally, as well as the lives of future generations, " for the next one thousand years." He made the information revolution accessible. He put the internet in our pockets, and changed the way each of us sees the world. Steve liked to say he wished to live his day, as if it were his last. He also expressed his desire to "make a dent in the universe". What a dent it was! He sowed the seeds of a miraculous "apple orchard", that flourished and bore fruit, as it followed his inspiring passion, vision and leadership. He shall continue to do so, even from the grave. He started life as a "hippie geek", and went on to revolutionized the way we live.. Compared to Thomas Edison and Leonardo da Vinci, this creative genius started his journey in a scrappy garage, in his parents' home. It took him sometime however, to find it. He dropped out of university after one term, and took his first computer job to raise money for a spiritual retreat to India. He returned, a reformed Buddhist, with shaven head, and a full heart. He first joined Atari, before he started tinkering in his garage. Three of his high school friends, tinkered with him, and before long they founded their personal computer company, which they called APPLE, in 1976. Emblem of the perfect fruit of knowledge, the apple shows the first dent of a hungry bite. Once you taste the knowledge, its sweetness never leaves you. Apple stock soared, but a power struggle within the company forced Steve out in 1985. Its immense success caused his downfall. Steve was only 30 years old. Not down for long, Steve bought a tiny graphics company, which he soon transformed into the famous PIXAR, producing some of the most memorable animated films such as TOY STORY and FINDING NEMO. Disney acquired PIXAR in 2006, and with it retrieved its dominant place in Cartoon World. Meanwhile APPLE had faltered and sought the help of its spiritual father. Jobs returned in 1996; became the CEO a year later and focused on transforming the consumer electronic industry, with the iPOD, iPHONE and iPAD. Steve Jobs shunned publicity, granting very few interviews, and only in context of Apple products. Though romantically linked with movie stars, his was not a flamboyant lifestyle. His familiar attire of blue jeans and black turtle-neck top was a working man's dress, but what outstanding work did this working man produce!. Married in 1991 to Laurene Powell, Jobs had 3 children, and one child from a previous relationship. An authorized biography by Walter Isaacsson, will soon be released, with pre-orders already soaring to no.1 on 1Tune and Amazon. He accepted this project, so that his 4 children could know him better. So will the rest of us. It was a short life, but perhaps a perfect one, in terms of accomplishment. Nonetheless, could nothing be done by our outstanding medical advances, to save the precious life of this amazing visionary genius? Jobs died last week of pancreatic cancer, after a few years of arduous struggle with this dreaded disease. The Pancreas is a gland situated high in our abdomen, which produces most digestive enzymes and insulin, that regulates blood sugar levels. Pancreatic cancer is difficult to diagnose because many of its symptoms, such as nausea, fever etc, can be caused by a variety of conditions. The condition is often diagnosed only in its advanced stages, when death is less than 6 months away. Jobs revealed in 2004 that he had a rare, less aggressive form of the disease, called 'islet cell neuroendocrine tumour', which allowed him to live with the disease for 7 more years�ê�..far less than we had all prayed for. Hopefully, Steve Jobs myriad admirers in the world of technology, can develop a faster means of detection, and even better, a final cure for the Big C virus that still plagues us in the 21st century, robbing us of the dazzling genius and vision of APPLE's Steve Jobs. We join the legions of fans in mourning the loss of one man who made a difference in the universe and especially in my life and yours. Death is very likely the single best invention of life. It is life's change agent. It clears out the old, to make way for the new. -- Steve Jobs (1955-2011)
