Steve Jobs and a million people
Swami Gulagulaananda repeated:
"You can't compare apples with oranges"
Saw this silly poster making rounds on Facebook. This is one of the dumbest pictures I have seen...
I don't really understand this poster. How can someone compare a man like Steve Jobs with some random dying people... If you want to do that, then nobody is great and worthy of looking up to. People die everyday. And those people are somebody really great to their family and close ones, but to the rest of the world, they are nobodies.
However, once in a while, some people who touch the lives of lakhs of people come around. These people end up being role models to a lot of people. Steve Jobs may not have fed hungry African children, but his achievements, ups and downs, and vision have inspired lakhs of techies and students. If you want to compare a great like Jobs to a hungry kid in Africa, then you will have to erase the very concept of great people and say that every man is equal. Nobody's achievement means anything anymore, because, just because Gandhi got independence to India, doesn't get independence to people in China who are stuck without rights or the harassed people in Myanmar, and just because there are people who have no legs, doesn't make feats of Usain Bolt or Michael Phelps something not worth marvelling.
To summarise, you may not personally think Jobs was great. But for people who do look up to him, he is incredible. And ironically, Swami quips, 'You can't compare apples with oranges'
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You may also want to read:
Of leaders, greatness and belittlement
"You can't compare apples with oranges"
Saw this silly poster making rounds on Facebook. This is one of the dumbest pictures I have seen...
I don't really understand this poster. How can someone compare a man like Steve Jobs with some random dying people... If you want to do that, then nobody is great and worthy of looking up to. People die everyday. And those people are somebody really great to their family and close ones, but to the rest of the world, they are nobodies.
However, once in a while, some people who touch the lives of lakhs of people come around. These people end up being role models to a lot of people. Steve Jobs may not have fed hungry African children, but his achievements, ups and downs, and vision have inspired lakhs of techies and students. If you want to compare a great like Jobs to a hungry kid in Africa, then you will have to erase the very concept of great people and say that every man is equal. Nobody's achievement means anything anymore, because, just because Gandhi got independence to India, doesn't get independence to people in China who are stuck without rights or the harassed people in Myanmar, and just because there are people who have no legs, doesn't make feats of Usain Bolt or Michael Phelps something not worth marvelling.
To summarise, you may not personally think Jobs was great. But for people who do look up to him, he is incredible. And ironically, Swami quips, 'You can't compare apples with oranges'
***
You may also want to read:
Of leaders, greatness and belittlement
Comments
P.S We can agree to disagree with the debate :)