Connecting the dots
I was listening to the last few chapters of Steve Jobs’ biography on audible on my train home this evening. Suddenly I connected the dots from when I just started working years ago to now. Sometimes, only years later do you realise the significance of moments experienced by the younger you.
In the last few years of his life, Steve Jobs painstakingly designed the second Apple Campus in Cupertino, which came to be known as the Apple Park with its circular structure and rich greenery. After countless design iterations with a team of 50+ architects, down to the details of every glass panel and elevator button, he was eventually happy with the final design. In 2011, he personally presented the design to the City Council which unanimously approved it after hours of debate.
Steve Jobs did not live to see construction begin and died shortly afterwards.
7 years later, not only have I experienced Apple Park, but very fortunately worked in the futuristic building at my first job after my graduate degree. Our team was also among the first to move into the new campus. I still remember vividly how I was amazed by the trees reaching upwards in the light-filled space, fitting so harmoniously with the surrounding—and how long it took to walk between rooms. But I did not have an idea at that time that it was meticulously designed by Steve Jobs as one of his last major projects. Despite being a chronic Apple products fan, I didn’t even know much about his life beyond the well known facts.
A few years after Jobs’ death, one day when I was watching a recorded computer science course from MIT, the video lecture happens to have captured the exact moment when the news broke: Some students started a stir. The professor asked why. One student said, Steve Jobs just died. The professor looked shocked. After a couple of seconds, he showed genuine sadness without words.
That video clip left a much deeper impression of Steve Jobs on me than the actual date when the event happened, as I was just starting university then.
Coincidentally, he was the person who has given me the most inspiration through his biography last year. I’m moved by the fact that I can feel connected to another person in such unpredictable ways, despite the obvious differences between us. You can only connect the dots looking backwards.
Thank you, Jobs, for creating a permanent dent in the universe through the impermanence of life.