Steve Jobs meninggal dunia

Steve Jobs, pendiri Apple, yang menjadi pelopor komputer grafis dan telah memberikan banyak sekali pengaruh pada dunia teknologi, meninggal dunia pada hari Rabu (5/10/2011) pada usia 56.

Di bagian akhir masa hidupnya, Steve Jobs telah mengembangkan produk dengan visinya “the intersection of art and technology”. Produk-produk terakhir Apple yaitu iPod, iPhone, dan iPad telah merevolusi industri komputer sekaligus entertainment, serta cara kita memandang/menggunakan teknologi.

Tak ada penjelasan resmi mengenai penyebab meninggalnya Steve Jobs, walaupun dia diketahui bertarung dengan kanker pankreas di tahun-tahun terakhirnya dan telah menerima transplantasi hati.

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Sudah banyak orang yang menulis kontribusi Steve Jobs tentang teknologi. Aku tak ingin membahaskan lagi kebrilianannya sebagai visioner dan sekaligus eksekutor gagasannya yang membuat kehidupan jutaan orang di dunia menjadi lebih baik.

Satu hal yang mengesankan kepadaku secara pribadi (di luar produk Apple) adalah pidato Steve Jobs di Universitas Stanford pada tahun 2005 ketika dia bercerita di luar teknologi, yaitu tentang kehidupannya dan bagaimana pandangannya tentang kehidupan.

Inilah beberapa quote pidato itu ketika menceritakan tentang prosesnya belajar Typografi sebelum DO yang sangat berpengaruh dalam prosesnya merancang Macintosh:

“..following my curiosity and intuition turned out to be priceless later on”

“You can’t connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something — your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever.”

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Kutipan kedua adalah tentang pandangan ketika ditendang dari Apple, kemudian mendirikan NeXT, dan akhirnya diminta kembali ke Apple.

“I had been rejected, but I was still in love. And so I decided to start over.”

“Sometimes life hits you in the head with a brick. Don’t lose faith.”

“The heaviness of being successful was replaced by the lightness of being a beginner again, less sure about everything. It freed me to enter one of the most creative periods of my life.”

“I’m convinced that the only thing that kept me going was that I loved what I did. You’ve got to find what you love. And that is as true for your work as it is for your lovers. Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking. Don’t settle. As with all matters of the heart, you’ll know when you find it. And, like any great relationship, it just gets better and better as the years roll on. So keep looking until you find it. Don’t settle.”

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Dan inilah pidatonya tentang kematian di hadapan para lulusan Stanford tersebut:

“If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?” Pertanyaan itu telah mendorongnya menjalani hidup yang berharga. Apalagi, ketika dia mendapat vonis dokter hanya bisa hidup beberapa bulan lagi karena kanker pankreas yang dideritanya.

“If you live each day as if it was your last, someday you’ll most certainly be right.”

“Remembering that I’ll be dead soon is the most important tool I’ve ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything — all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure – these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart.”

“No one wants to die. Even people who want to go to heaven don’t want to die to get there. And yet death is the destination we all share. No one has ever escaped it.”

“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. Right now the new is you, but someday not too long from now, you will gradually become the old and be cleared away.”

“Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.”

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Selamat jalan Steve Jobs. Terima kasih atas kehadiran dan karyamu. Kamu akan selalu ada di hatiku. Selamanya.