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(Steve)Jobs, Thatcher, and the force of life
Wall Street Journal ^ | December 24, 2011 | Peggy Noonan

Posted on 12/26/2011 9:39:05 PM PST by WilliamIII

The great words of the year? "Oh wow. Oh wow. Oh wow."

They are the last words of Steve Jobs, reported by his sister, the novelist Mona Simpson, who was at his bedside. In her eulogy, a version of which was published in the New York Times, she spoke of how he looked at his children "as if he couldn't unlock his gaze." He'd said goodbye to her, told her of his sorrow that they wouldn't be able to be old together, "that he was going to a better place." In his final hours his breathing was deep, uneven, as if he were climbing.

"Before embarking, he'd looked at his sister Patty, then for a long time at his children, then at his life's partner, Laurene, and then over their shoulders past them. Steve's final words were: 'OH WOW. OH WOW. OH WOW.'"

The caps are Simpson's, and if she meant to impart a sense of wonder and mystery she succeeded. "Oh wow" is not a bad way to express the bigness, power and force of life, and death. And of love, by which he was literally surrounded.

I wondered too, after reading the eulogy, if I was right to infer that Jobs saw something, and if so, what did he see? What happened there that he looked away from his family and expressed what sounds like awe? I thought of a story told by a friend, whose grown son had died, at home, in a hospice. The family was ringed around his bed. As Robert breathed his last an infant in the room let out a great baby laugh as if he saw something joyous, wonderful, and gestured toward the area above Robert's head.

(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Editorial
KEYWORDS: budhism

1 posted on 12/26/2011 9:39:10 PM PST by WilliamIII
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To: WilliamIII
I wish Steve Jobs the best in the afterlife...

...but I have to wonder...

...if maybe what was reported as...

"OH WOW, OH WOW, OH WOW"

...was actually the last use of his famous "reality distortion field"...

...to spin...

"OW! OW! OW! OW! OW! OW!"

2 posted on 12/26/2011 10:11:32 PM PST by Yossarian ("All the charm of Nixon. All the competency of Carter." - SF Chronicle comment post on Obama)
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To: WilliamIII

I find the deification of Steve Jobs profoundly revolting.

Like gilding a turd, mounting it on a pedastal, and shining spotlights on it while singing “Hallelujah!”

Oh yeah, I almost forgot - it’s a Steve Jobs gilded turd, so you have to pay admittance to see it.

Cash only. No refunds.


3 posted on 12/26/2011 10:51:51 PM PST by Talisker (History will show the Illuminati won the ultimate Darwin Award.)
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More drippy journalism from the one and only...


4 posted on 12/26/2011 11:02:21 PM PST by Gene Eric (C'mon, Virginia -- are you with us or against us?!)
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To: Talisker

I guess you think he is somewhere, else why waste the hate on a non-entity?


5 posted on 12/26/2011 11:18:46 PM PST by itsahoot (Throw them all out! Especially the Frugal Socialists who call themselves Republicans.)
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To: WilliamIII

I don’t really agree with the ‘woman’ factor being a reason why she is hated compared to Reagan. For one thing, Reagan is already dead, so he is old news.
Secondly, much as I agree Thatcher’s reforms were neccessary, I can perfectly understand why people hold a mortal hatred for her, because most of the mining towns and villages in Britain were utterly destroyed, turned from fairly prosperous close-knit communities into drug-addled slums. I personally understand why this was neccessary, because the mines could not have been subsidised indefinately, and Thatcher was merely the one who bit the bullet before things got even worse.
But if you found yourself jobless or watched your community change before your very eyes due to Thatcher’s policies towards heavy industry and the mines, I can understand why the big picture wouldn’t really figure into your thinking...


6 posted on 12/27/2011 1:36:17 AM PST by sinsofsolarempirefan
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To: sinsofsolarempirefan

Is Noonan completely detached from the irony of her own words?
“The left in America has largely thrown in the towel on Ronald Reagan, but in Britain Thatcher-hatred remains fresh. Why?

Because she was a woman. Because women in politics are always by definition seen as presumptuous: They presume to lead men. When they are as bright as the men they’re disliked by the men, and when they’re brighter and more serious they’re hated. Mrs. Thatcher’s very presence was an insult to the left because it undermined the left’s insistence that only leftism and its protection of the weak and disadvantaged would allow women to rise. She rose without them while opposing what they stood for.”

Does that sound like anyone we know?


7 posted on 12/27/2011 5:27:43 AM PST by pingman (Durn tootin'; I like Glock shootin'!)
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To: Yossarian

Ow!

Fine black humor to go with my fine black morning coffee.


8 posted on 12/27/2011 6:18:06 AM PST by Pearls Before Swine
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