Vision

One of my favorite things at Walt Disney World is this statue:


I get goosebumps when I look at that statue because it makes me think of Walt Disney's dream. When we were at Walt Disney World last month, I watched kids smiling, employees warmly welcoming each person into the parks, parents hugging their kids, people laughing, burly men wearing Mickey Mouse ears, little girls wearing princess dresses, and I realized that all of that is possible because of one man's vision.

Last night I didn't bother turning on my TV, but when I checked Twitter, almost every new "tweet" was about the death of Steve Jobs. While it was obvious that his health was rapidly declining and this news shouldn't have been a shock to us, it was evident that it was news that was felt by everyone.

I'm not going to pretend to be a Steve Jobs expert, because I'm not. When I think of him, I think of the man--clad in his jeans and black turtleneck--who always unveiled the latest and greatest Apple product.



But here is what I do know. I get up every morning and read blogs and news on my Macbook. I take my iPhone with me everywhere I go. I love the flexibility of my iPad (and have watched every episode of the first three seasons of Mad Men on it). I plug my iPod into my car stereo and listen to it instead of the radio most of the time. Apple products have changed my everyday life.

And I'm just one of millions who can say the same. And it is all because of a man who had a vision.

We are a country that (unfortunately) puts people like the Kardashians, Kate Gosselin, and the cast of Jersey Shore on the covers of our magazines, but today I'm glad that kind of celebrity is being put aside to pay respect to a bespectacled man with thinning gray hair whose vision transformed our world.