Caveat: I felt absurd but my mind was light

[broken link! FIXME] Sj_html_m431c1c69I recently gave my most advanced class of middle schoolers a speech assignment, based on the idea of interviewing some famous person. I have gotten some very interesting and well-thought-out results. One student imagines interviewing the late Steve Jobs (there are plenty of Apple fans in Korea). He actually did quite a bit of research, apparently, into Jobs’ biography. He asks the following question:

What did you feel when you were fired from Apple?

His answer isn’t exactly perfect, idiomatically, but it’s clear and deeply insightful, if not downright philosophical:

I felt absurd but My mind was light.

It’s worth recalling that Jobs was a practicing Zen Buddhist. This invented “Jobs quote” on the part of my student is even more insightful when considered in that light.

Now… don’t get me wrong: I’m still the ultimate anti-Apple-fanboy. But Steve Jobs as a business persona has always interested me more than the particular strategies and style that he adopted for his company, and they’re something I’m more inclined to look upon favorably.

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