My best wishes go out to Apple CEO Steve Jobs as he goes on a five-month leave of absence for health reasons.
At the same time, I want to express my dismay at reading and seeing otherwise reputable people taking Jobs’ absence from the public eye in recent weeks as an excuse to spread rumors that he was on the verge of death, then using the announcement of the leave of absence as a reason to say, “I told you so.” I want to remind these people of the spiritual cost of aligning themselves with the idea of the death of a living person, particularly a person who is known for creating things. And I want to emphasize to them how very unseemly it appears to the world when they seize upon the rumors and speculation about the possible death of a person as an opportunity to promote the products of a competing company.
History records the efforts of those who create something new and useful. There is very little history can say about those who sit idle as they wait for a competitor to die.
