| COMMENT Bob Weaver
Steve Jobs, dead at 56, like other great American inventors and innovators, was considered by many as a misfit maverick.
In America, there is still space for misfit mavericks, albeit most folks have considerable distain for them.
While most Americans form their opinions by watching TV talking heads and thousands of commericals (most everthing is), Jobs said:
"When I was 17, I read a quote that went something like: '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 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 that 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... 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."
The philosopher-inventor who changed the world has left the American landscape.
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