I have always been captivated by Apple products. I remember clearly the first time I laid eyes on that gleaming white laptop with those perfect, luscious round curves. Truly, it was love at first sight.
Even since that first encounter it's been a passionate romance. Like a soul mate, I clicked immediately with Apple’s trailblazing simplicity, uniqueness, usability and no nonsense approach to life.
Sadly I equally remember the first time that beautiful puppy love was broken. I was travelling in the USA a few months after Steve Jobs died and was making use of the lightning fast, free internet to download the latest IOS for my cellphone and iPad. Like a kid before Christmas I left my phone happily updating next to my bed so I could unwrap my ‘gift’ first thing the next morning.
I was shattered seconds after I woke up. Heart broken. Mildly depressed if you must know. Why? Because for the first time I perceived that Apple was normal.
Previously their design had been a mind-blowing revolution in its perfect simplicity but now I was staring down at a screen full of average. It was like finding out a horrible truth about someone you esteemed so highly. In an instant the magic was broken and my love went stone cold sober.
So what went wrong in our relationship? Here’s a portion of my view – I think Apple lost sight of its root.
Roots are the life force of a being.They’re ugly, tough, sub-terrain and ever industrious in their tireless
pursuit of growth. Fruit in contrast are flashy, decorated and dressed to the max in their abundant foliage.
Currently Apple has a lot of flashy fruit and foliage right? After all they are the most profitable company on the planet.
So what is the point? No matter what happens with Tomfoolery I would like us to be root focused. I never, ever, ever want to use fruit and foliage as a barometer and draw the conclusion that the being is healthy.
So much love
Tom