No sooner had she got out of the car and closed the door than the hurried footsteps of the middle-Eastern 50-year-old woman scrambled to the idyllic, elegant home of Palo Alto, California, on the afternoon of October 5, 2011. It was supposed to be that day. A pleasant autumn day par excellence, but it surely seemed dreary and grimy to the restless lady, whose swift steps turned into leaps.

She remembers his weak, trembling voice over the phone: "You must hurry to Palo Alto, my dear. I'm telling you that now because I'm afraid I won't be able to meet you. It's the end." Taxi on my way to the airport, I'll be there right away."

Well, as soon as she entered the house, the sullen attendants who expected her to come into the room at the end of the corridor signaled her and she headed straight for her.

She paused in front of the door and took a deep breath, then walked into the room where a number of familiar faces gathered around a person lying in bed with some medical equipment around him.

Everyone is silent, speaking only in a whisper.

At first glance, I was shocked.

The person on the bed was more like a very thin skeleton, almost indistinguishable in his features, weak, rickety, sick, struggling to catch a breath, all surrounded by looks of pity and eyes full of tears.

This person was not like her brother, whom she knew, and as long as he was stared at him with amazement, fascination and admiration almost all his life, especially when he was standing proudly in front of the world's screens to announce the introduction of new unprecedented products that change the course of human life.

That person was Steve Jobs, the founder of the technology company Apple.

The lady who rushed to meet him was Mona Simpson, the Syrian-American writer and novelist, and his biological sister from their Syrian father (Abdel-Fattah al-Jandali).

Those around him in the room were his wife and four children.

These were precisely the moments of Steve Jobs' last dying, which Simpson recounted in an article published in the New York Times after his death.

(1)

While contemplating the scene, which seemed surreal and bleak as all the dying scenes, Mrs. Simpson recalled the details of the journey of Steve Jobs' illness, and how her brother transformed from a model of the most successful, energetic and famous person on earth to someone who struggles only to catch his last breath.

malicious apple in pancreas

“I have some personal news that I need to share with you, and I wanted you to hear it straight from me. I was diagnosed with a rare form of pancreatic cancer that represents 1% of all pancreatic cancers diagnosed annually and can be treated surgically if diagnosed early (as in my case), and I decided I would not Ask for chemotherapy or radiotherapy."

These words were an internal message that Steve Jobs sent to all Apple employees via e-mail in August of 2004. In fact, Jobs had been diagnosed with the disease in 2003, but he hid the news so as not to alarm investors in his company, Until rumors about his illness began to appear, which he himself ended with this clear announcement, confirming that he was in good health and medically following the course of treatment.

Two years later, in August 2006, Steve Jobs appeared at Apple's annual conference of designers and lost a lot of weight and looked pale, but everyone quickly got distracted from that by the new legendary product that Jobs himself announced in January 2007 and was It represents the first version of the iPhone that dazzled the world in a completely different style from the smart phones that were prevalent at the time.

In 2008, Apple investors were increasingly concerned about the health of its gripping chief executive, a concern that escalated when Jobs refused to answer reporters' questions about his health at the Let's Rock conference in San Francisco.

Later, Steve Jobs said that the cause of his severe pallor is a "hormonal imbalance" caused by the treatments he was taking, which led to his significant weight loss, and he would start dealing with the matter medically.

In the summer of 2009, after a period of relative absence from the media, the Wall Street Journal announced that Steve Jobs had traveled to the state of Tennessee to undergo a liver transplant in one of its hospitals urgently.

Jobs later acknowledged the move, and himself published a statement about his health, with thanks to the deceased young man who donated his liver: "Now I live by the liver of a young man in his mid-twenties who died in a car accident, and he was generous enough to donate his organs. I wouldn't live now without his generosity." .

(2)

farewell year

“Reminding myself that I will die soon is the most important tool I have ever experienced that has helped me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything, all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment and failure, all of these things fall completely in the face of death, leaving only behind What's really important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked, there is nothing else to do but follow your heart."

(Steve Jobs in his speech at the Stanford University graduation ceremony in 2005)

In January 2011, Steve Jobs officially announced that he had applied to Apple's board of directors for indefinite medical leave so that he could focus on his health problems. Participates in any major strategic decisions made at Apple.

Later, Jobs flew to Switzerland to test a treatment method not yet approved in the United States.

In August of the same year, Jobs announced that he would permanently relinquish the position of CEO of "Apple", declaring that he was unable to perform his duties and duties, and that his duty to the apple that he had established himself was to give up his position immediately.

“That day has unfortunately come,” Jobs declared in a poignant letter, entrusting the company's management to current CEO Tim Cook.

At the end of September, according to Tim Cook, in his autobiography, "Becoming Steve Jobs," Jobs called Cook and asked him to come over to his house to discuss things.

When Cook went to Jobs' house, he found him in a stable condition despite his extreme pallor, and they had a little discussion about some matters relating to the management of "Apple".

To Cook's surprise, Steve Jobs asked him to stay with him to watch Remember the Titans, a 2000 sports movie starring Denzel Washington about a high school soccer team.

Cook said that he was surprised by Jobs' desire to see this movie in particular, because he knew that Jobs was not interested in football in particular, but he - Jobs - seemed comfortable watching the movie and chatting with him.

(2, 3, 4)

Oh wow.. oh wow

The last picture was taken of Jobs in the last stages of his illness, accompanied by a nurse helping him to stand up

Mona Simpson came back to wake up from her memories, to look at her brother lying on the bed who saw her and smiled a pale smile as if he greeted her on her arrival before he left.

It was two in the afternoon, and she saw him exchanging some phrases with his wife, and then looking back several times at his four sons with a long, stray look, while the children were all silent.

Minutes later, his wife helped him lift his back a little from the bed to talk on the phone to some of his friends at Apple, Mona Simpson couldn't name them exactly.

He hung up, and then after a while it was clear that Steve was passing out, and that his breathing had changed markedly.

For Mona, it felt like he was fighting with his breath.

Mona says that at this time she felt like he was putting his things in the car and getting ready to leave, that Steve Jobs is now dying before her eyes.

Then she noticed while looking forward to him - and according to what she mentioned in her article via the New York Times - that her brother is working to end his suffering himself, as if he is urging his body to surrender to death and hasten it, or as she expressed in her article by saying: "Death did not happen to Steve, but he was the one who requested it." .

In the end, his breath calmed down and he looked back with a blank look at his children who had gathered around him, then he looked behind their shoulders as if he saw something, and his eyes widened:

"Oh Wow..."

He said it three times, then his eyes caught him looking at the same point behind the shoulders of those around him, his skinny face stiffened, so that the 56-year-old technical legend died forever.

(15th)

What are you trying to tell us, Jobs?

More than 10 years after his death, and whenever there is talk of Steve Jobs and his pioneering career, reference must always come to his last words on his deathbed: "Oh...wow."

What did he mean?

Did he see "something" that required him to say these words of astonishment and astonishment in American culture?

Was this something to do with him and the way he spoke?

Did he want to deliver a certain message to those around him while he was struggling with death?

In her attempt to explain the meaning of these words, his sister implied that they were a reflection of Jobs himself throughout his life, and his constant ability to marvel at anything new that happened.

In his book, The Cheat Code, entrepreneur Brian Wong links the term Jobs used in his dying days to the constant state of innovation he espoused in his life, and his habit of listening to others and admiring some ideas using this word.

(1, 6)

In answer to the question, "What did Steve Jobs mean by saying "Oh wow" at the moment of his death?"

On Quora, one of the commentators who dealt with late cases of cancer patients commented that although it is impossible to say for sure what Jobs meant at these moments, it may carry several expressive connotations, which he cannot express in complete words or sentences, including: (7)

  • I can't breathe, and I can't tell you that I can't breathe.

  • I'm on my way to a better place.

  • What I've been through is so terrible.

  • I can't believe this is happening to me.

  • I see something and I can't express it.

For many years, speculation and opinions have flowed trying to explain what Steve Jobs meant in his last words, each according to his intellectual or religious reference, and some of them confirmed that Steve Jobs was going through a near-death experience, which many of those who experienced it partly recounted. Details about amazing things in the last moments.

But all of these opinions remain pure speculation and individual blogging of their owners.

He didn't say it.. but it's usable

In 2015, almost 4 years after Jobs' death, an influential post appeared on the Internet that was attributed to him at the end of his life, and was said to contain his last will.

The publication was written in a poignant and emotional language, was widely spread and translated into almost all languages ​​of the world, and turned into a readable and audible material on all social media.

The post, published with various poignant titles such as "Steve Jobs' Last Words" and "Where to Find Your Treasure?", says:

“I have reached the pinnacle of success in business. In the eyes of others, my life has been a symbol of success, however, apart from work, I have had little time for joy. At this time, as I lay on my hospital bed, I remember my long life, and realize that All the trophies and fortunes of which I was so proud have become insignificant and meaningless as imminent death approaches."

You can hire someone to drive you, or make money for you, but you can't hire someone to carry your disease.

Man can find material things, but there is only one thing that you cannot find when you lose it, and that is life.

Your inner happiness does not come from material things in this world, whether you are traveling in first class or economy class, if the plane collapses, you will collapse with it.”

Although this post is completely plagiarized by Steve Jobs, and most major newspapers have checked his credibility with the consensus that he did not say it, many celebrities, including the famous British billionaire Sir Richard Branson, have shared it on the pages of social media platforms, in a sign that means that even If Jobs had not said it, the meaning of these words would apply to reality, even if it was never uttered by Jobs' tongue.

(8)

In the end, Steve Jobs was buried with a limited burial ceremony in a simple, unremarkable grave - at his request - in the non-sectarian Alta Mesa memorial cemeteries where many celebrities are buried, and "Apple" announced that it would not hold a public funeral for Jobs at his request and out of respect for his family's privacy.

The exact location of his grave remained unknown for several years, until Forbes was able to locate him in the memorial cemeteries after obtaining his death certificate.

In a biography of Steve Jobs written by veteran journalist Walter Isaacson after dozens of interviews with Jobs, the eminent executive began to talk more about his perceptions about faith and the afterlife after he was diagnosed with cancer, and the most important thing he said in this matter:

"Sometimes I believe in God, and sometimes I don't. I think it's 50/50. But as soon as I had cancer, I thought about it more, and I found myself inclined to believe more. Maybe because I want to believe there's another life, to believe That after you die not everything is gone, all the wisdom you've accumulated must somehow continue. Other times I think it's like an on-off switch, with one click you're there, another one you're not. (And then I paused, And he sighed, "Maybe that's why I don't like the on/off button on Apple devices."

(9)

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Sources

  • A Sister's Eulogy for Steve Jobs

  • Steve Jobs' Pancreatic Cancer: A Timeline

  • Last days of Steve Jobs: Apple CEO invited Tim Cook to watch Denzel Washington movie week before he died

  • Steve Jobs: "Death Is Very Likely The Single Best Invention Of Life"

  • Steve Jobs's last words: 'Oh wow.

    Oh wow.

    Oh wow'

  • The Cheat Code – Brian wong

  • What could be the meaning of Steve Jobs' last words "Oh wow. Oh wow. Oh wow"?

  • Fact check: Commentary on wealth is falsely labeled as Steve Jobs' last words

  • Steve Jobs: In the end, he didn't like the off switch