Steve Jobs died yesterday after a lengthy and heroic fight against the cancer that took his life at age 56. His computer innovations and the company that he left behind him are fitting tributes to him. May his soul rest in peace.
In his politics, although he shunned overt statements on politics, I assume that he was a Democrat due to his large political contributions to that party, which is somewhat ironic considering one event at the very beginning of his life.
John Paul Cassil at the Washington Times writes about this:
However, his story actually begins before Reed College. In a 2005 Stanford University commencement address Steve Jobs painted a brief picture of his beginnings: “It started before I was born. My biological mother was a young, unwed college graduate student, and she decided to put me up for adoption. She felt very strongly that I should be adopted by college graduates, so everything was all set for me to be adopted at birth by a lawyer and his wife.
Except that when I popped out they decided at the last minute that they really wanted a girl. So my parents, who were on a waiting list, got a call in the middle of the night asking: “We have an unexpected baby boy; do you want him?” They said: “Of course.” My biological mother later found out that my mother had never graduated from college and that my father had never graduated from high school. She refused to sign the final adoption papers. She only relented a few months later when my parents promised that I would someday go to college.”
Jobs’ biological parents were Joanne Simpson and Abdulfattah John Jandali. Although the details of Simpson and Jandali’s relationship have not been made public, we do know a good deal about Mr. Jandali. A Syrian immigrant, he came to the United States to pursue his higher education in 1949. According to The Daily Mail, he is now vice president of a casino in Reno, Nevada. At the time, however, Joanne’s parents would not allow the two to get married.
For that reason, Jobs was given up for adoption to his parents Paul and Clara Jobs.
Eighteen years later saw the Roe v. Wade Supreme Court decision, which paved the way for hundreds of millions of legal abortions to take place in the United States over the following years. In 1955, abortion was nowhere near as prevalent as it is today. It was primarily rejected by society as the termination of innocent life.
Instead, adoptions were preferred. Adoptions ensure that children are given life. Jobs’ adoption was very beneficial, creating and shaping him into the leader that he would later become.
What would a world look like in which Steve Jobs had been aborted?
Go here to read the rest.
Abortion has robbed us of many geniuses such as Steve Jobs, some villians no doubt also, and a great many plain ordinary folks who never got their chance to show what love and work they could bring into our world. We are immeasurably poorer for their loss.
On the other hand, think of the countless number of useless jerks that would have been born otherwise. For every genius, there are a million idiots.
Way, way too cynical Joe, even for you. I have full exposure to full frontal jerkiness in my job, and people in that category I think do not exceed 10% of the population, and even those usually have some minor redeeming features. All of us are jerks and idiots on occasion, but most people spend most of their life making contributions to our world through their love and their work.
Don excellent article. Joe, time to man up. I have read some of your posts and while some seem thoughtful, others show what happens to someone with little faith. Maybe, I am taking this a bit more personal because my wife and I have a child we were blessed to receive through adoption. However, I would like to think that it isn’t too much to asked that everyone have the right to at least be born and become an idiot (or a genuis in Steve Jobs case.) The callous disregard for life in our society shows itself with remarks like yours.
After fertility problems caused us to go the Natrual Family Planning route, we met with some experts on adoption. One person who had done a fair amount of research on the topic told us that before Roe v Wade there seemed to be a perfect balance between the number of young women who didn’t believe they were ready to raise a child and the number of married couples who couldn’t have children. It was God’s way to balance out the equation. As it stands now millions of parents in the US and the western world have to wait months and years to adopt, let alone the cost which prohibits many couples from even adoptiong one child let alone more. It wasn’t always that way Roe v Wade changed all of that. Joe everyone has a right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. In other words to be born and become an idiot, a genuis, or just another Joe or Jane trying to make the best out of life. You might want to ponder that point.
No baby is born hoping to be a “useless jerk.” Every baby deserves a chance to be born so they may have the opportunity to impact the world. Whether they have a positive impact or negative impact…or no impact (although I don’t think that’s possible)…is largely due to the people around them and their support system.
Useless jerks are made, not born.
Anyway, as Gandalf might say, some who deserve life don’t get to live; others who don’t deserve to live get life – can you make the decision? (that’s a rhetorical question, obviously).
I meant to say “joke” rather than “jerk.” Yes, I’m the worst cynic, curmudgeonly, misanthropic (insert your favorite adjective here), but nearly 70 years on this planet has confirmed Lucretius’ words: “Had God made the world it would not be as flawed and faulty as it is.”
Even if Don’s 10% figure is accurate (way too low, but accepted for the sake of argument). that would place the number of morons in the world currently at 600 million. I think 90% is far more accurate. And, yes, I include myself occasionally, Don. Point being that none of us is perfect, but some are less perfect than others. If “born gay” is ever scientifically proven and it appears that a “gay gene” is closer to being discovered, then God surely messed up somewhere in the creation business.
“If ‘born gay’ is ever scientifically proven and it appears that a ‘gay gene’ is closer to being discovered, then God surely messed up somewhere in the creation business.”
Defective genes are not the result of a mistake on God’s part. Defective genes (such as those hypothetical ones that purportedly predispose one to alcoholism, drug addiction or homosexuality) are the result of original sin.
“For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now.” Romans 8:22.
Now this doesn’t mean that a person is gay or alcoholic because of his parents’ or grandparents’ sin (Jesus talked about that error in thinking with His disciples). Rather, sickness, disease and death are the consequence of original sin.
Joe, to the students I taught and coached, I often used the line; “On your worst day 95% of the people in the world would trade places with you.” Often in my travels and in meeting people from the Third World they are often the happiest and most faith people I have ever met. In addition, they hunger for education and unlike those in the West, it doesn’t seem to hinder their strong faith life.
Believe me Joe, I have met many people who struggle with their faith, but they perservere. I cannot grasp the idea of not perservering. I can’t fathom a boss at work, coach on the athletic field of competition, or a theater or film director saying; “I don’t understand any of this either, who cares” If they did they would certainly be fired because they have a job to do. We have a job to do on this earth to and that is to do our best to understand God and help others along the way. The minute we don’t do that, life probably begins to seem pointless. Incidentally, this seems to be a western problem. “Without a vision the people perish.” There is a better way and God can help you with it, but you have to be open to it, which may be hard because we all want control and understanding these things means we have to open ourselves to letting go and letting in God.
I think there is a reason you come here Joe and I believe deep in your heart something is crying for the truth that you read in the posts by Don and others. Keep coming back and know that others are praying for you, people that you never met who know that while some may have given up on God, He has never given up on you.
[…] Steve Jobs, Adoption and Abortion – Donald R. McClarey, The American Catholic […]
Dave, thanks, sincerely, for your comments. Yes, I keep coming back to TAC because a sliver of me still holds out hope that there is truly a purpose in this life other than to merely exist. Most of the time life seems without meaning. I cannot fathom the ways of God, if there is one, so I am limited by mortal intelligence, which even at its best is flawed. Every day I start off with a new slate but in a matter of hours, sometimes minutes, I am reminded that it is always a new day, and it is always the same old s–t.
[…] note: Coincidentally, in Mass on Sunday, the deacon used Steve Jobs as an example for the pro-life movement. Jobs’s young, unwed mother considered an abortion but decided to put her son up for […]
“sometimes minutes, I am reminded that it is always a new day, and it is always the same old s–t.”
And our new chance to remedy some of it Joe. Life’s a struggle Joe, but there are victories as well as defeats. I do my best each day to live my life according to this advice by Teddy Roosevelt:
“Far better it is to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs even though checkered by failure, than to rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy nor suffer much because they live in the gray twilight that knows neither victory nor defeat.”
Chesterton remarked that those who propose nostrums for others are mighty unwilling to take them themselves. Is Joe lamenting that he was not “aborted” [murdered]?
For Pete’s sake, Joe!
Do you always “lose it” by 9AM?
When I was that way, I would drink heavily. Yes, by 9AM . . .
Great post, one that I couldn’t wait to share with others to get them thinking about how things could’ve been if Jobs had been aborted. Also kudos to Dave for his pair of excellent comments.
Speaking of abortion, I’ve seen this satirical article before and was tickled that Right to Life of Central California executive director Jonathan Keller mentioned it during his speech this morning as the featured speaker at the Right to Life of Kern County’s quarterly breakfast. As he aptly put it, this piece would be funny if not for it being so close to being a reality. http://www.theonion.com/articles/planned-parenthood-opens-8-billion-abortionplex,20476/
Keller gave Obama credit for one thing: causing a backlash against his pro-abortion policies that he says has resulted in 80 laws being passed to restrict abortion at the state level. Here’s praying and hoping for a complete GOP takeover in 2012 that Keller says would do much to reset the button on the genocidal madness spawned by Roe v. Wade so that the world, as Mother Teresa pointed out, will no longer be mired in poverty and without peace.
Abortion is wrong because it kills human life, not because it kills a genius. Every life is worthy of living.
Well said, Jasper. That is why I turned down an opportunity to help a fellow Catholic who was tapped to organize the local March for Babies, which is associated with the March of Dimes. He thought raising money to aid premature babies would help the pro-life cause, but I did some research on March of Dimes and found reasons to decline the request.
First, MOD has supported and offered pre-natal testing that lets the mother know whether the baby is at risk for Down syndrome, 92 percent of whom end up being aborted. Secondly, it supports embryonic stem cell research in finding ways to prevent birth defects; and thirdly, MOD hides the fact that abortion is among the risks of premature births, so it seems disingenuous for MOD to want to reduce premature births and yet won’t speak out against abortion’s link to them.
Needless to say, the fellow says he feels like a complete idiot for not doing his due diligence before signing on to lead the walk. He now is going to do his own research into this before deciding whether to disassociate himself from the event.
It is probably true that abortion has eliminated a lot of potential losers, jerks, and criminals as well as many potential geniuses, saints, and just plain good hardworking people. You have probably heard the controversial theory that legalized abortion is the main reason why crime rates have dropped in the last 15-20 years. BUT, even if the “abortion reduces crime” theory is true, that still doesn’t make it right. After all, aren’t we supposed to presume that everyone is innocent until proven guilty, and that it is better to let many guilty people go free than to punish or put to death even one innocent person? That’s a common argument you hear against the death penalty; I think it could also be used against abortion.
Elaine, in general you should take the findings of economists with a large grain of salt and in the particular case of freakonomists such as Steve Levitt just laugh them off, as they are vitiated by too many assumptions, special conditions, and downplaying of contrary evidence. For example, I hear that in the UK, people do not bother to report petty crime as the police would rather not do anything about it, due to lax judges and a reluctance to weigh down their backlog of unsolved cases . I am certain that if anyone wants to, he can find a correlation between the decline in drug use over the same period and the decline in crime, or the spread of zero-tolerance enforcement of the Guiliani style and the decline in crime.
The objective level of violence has not decreased at all – it is displaced to areas that people would rather not think about, the abortion mills, the prisons, the violence done to the drug mules and other such marginals. The other day, I was watching Dirty Harry again and remember thinking how tame it all was.
Gabriel, et al:
But better than both is he who has not yet been, who has not seen the evil that is done under the sun. Job 3:10
Job 42
1 Then Job replied to the LORD:
2 “I know that you can do all things;
no purpose of yours can be thwarted.
3 You asked, ‘Who is this that obscures my plans without knowledge?’
Surely I spoke of things I did not understand,
things too wonderful for me to know.
4 “You said, ‘Listen now, and I will speak;
I will question you,
and you shall answer me.’
5 My ears had heard of you
but now my eyes have seen you.
6 Therefore I despise myself
and repent in dust and ashes.”
The objective level of violence has not decreased at all
And you know this how?
I dunno; maybe Joe needs another cup of, well, joe, as in coffee, to help see the day as a gift it is.
Dave, you are the best! I miss CAFETERIA CATHOLIC!
Mack – I agree!
As long as life is unfair – and this cannot be argued – I will not believe in God, who is the author of life. End story.
The scales are balanced in the next world Joe, and many of us will not like the fairness that results from the weighing. We cry for justice when what most of us really need is mercy.
19 “There was a rich man who was dressed in purple and fine linen and lived in luxury every day. 20 At his gate was laid a beggar named Lazarus, covered with sores 21 and longing to eat what fell from the rich man’s table. Even the dogs came and licked his sores.
22 “The time came when the beggar died and the angels carried him to Abraham’s side. The rich man also died and was buried. 23 In Hades, where he was in torment, he looked up and saw Abraham far away, with Lazarus by his side. 24 So he called to him, ‘Father Abraham, have pity on me and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, because I am in agony in this fire.’
25 “But Abraham replied, ‘Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, while Lazarus received bad things, but now he is comforted here and you are in agony. 26 And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been set in place, so that those who want to go from here to you cannot, nor can anyone cross over from there to us.’
27 “He answered, ‘Then I beg you, father, send Lazarus to my family, 28 for I have five brothers. Let him warn them, so that they will not also come to this place of torment.’
29 “Abraham replied, ‘They have Moses and the Prophets; let them listen to them.’
30 “‘No, father Abraham,’ he said, ‘but if someone from the dead goes to them, they will repent.’
31 “He said to him, ‘If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.’”
Poor Joe!
Life isn’t fair.
Waaa!
Life is hard.
Boo hoo!
And, then you die.
But, Christ by His Life, Death and Resurrection has purchased for you the rewards of Eternal Life.
Man up, Joe!
That’s quite enough of that T.Shaw. I will not have Joe mocked. He is searching for the the Truth and he has my prayers in his journey.
Joe, consider the stinging “Get thee behind me, Satan!” response that Peter got from Jesus when Peter thought it was unfair that Jesus would subject himself to the passion of the cross that was to come. You just need to realize, as Peter did, that God’s ways are not our ways.
What we don’t usually hear about are the cries of the mother, who is plagued with guilt for the rest of her life that she allowed someone to “kill her baby”. We all absolutely KNOW that life begins at conception…things that GROW are ALIVE! You don’t hear about the pain they carry with them the rest of thier lives. The babies are all safe in the arms of Jesus, but the mother, who chose abortion, longs with all of her heart to see that baby again…thinks about that baby on every one of it’s birthdays! And she CAN see that baby again someday. God made a way! We have a gracious and a mighty God, who is willing to forgive…yes, even for murder…he gave his ONLY SON to die for the likes of US!!! Let go of the doubting that there is a God. If the Bible is indeed wrong, you have nothing to lose by believing in it, and the God of it. If the Bible is right, then you have EVERYTHING to lose by rejecting it. There may be a lot of jerks and idiots in the world, but Jesus died for them too— The biggest fool is the one who rejects Christ, and ends up spending an eternity in Hell because “life is not fair”. Life was not fair for Jesus, but thank God He didn’t give up…thank God He saw far into the future, and knew that I would need a Saviour and loved ME so much that he died for me… died for the whole world…those that despised and rejected him. God is GOOD!!! And He did create this world! …and everyone in it… “God is not willing that ANY should perish, but that all should come to repentance.”
I don’t know that Steve Jobs’s political views are any more ironic than anyone else’s…we are all here because of decisions our biological parents made. If his biological parents hadn’t dated to begin with, hadn’t had sex before marriage, he wouldn’t have born…whether God or happenstance, that sort of argument can be made for all of us.
This article reveals a lot about Steve Jobs:
http://gawker.com/5847344/what-everyone-is-too-polite-to-say-about-steve-jobs
He used child labor in China. He ridiculed and belittled the people who worked for him. He had his own company security agents invade people’s homes, being paranoid secrets were being stolen. He exercised censorship at every opportunity while he proclaimed himself and his products as the herald of free speech. He refused to allow the Manhattan Declaration’s application to be hosted by Apple products because of their opposition to abortion and gay marriage. So beyond the fact that he was a genius at coming up with all these wondrous gadgets, exactly why is his life admirable? I would have been terrified to work for a ruthless and uncaring man like him who devalued the people around him so much.
Steve Jobs was not aborted because his mother had a choice. To portray this choice in such a way that implies women who choose abortion deprive the world of the potential success of the “future fetus” is a cheap shot. People develop based on their surroundings, we see this is both geniuses and serial killers. Statistics show that children born into drug situation are more likely to develop habits. To say that if an abortion did not happen, that fetus could have grown into a genus or a president is wishful thinking. It is just a way to twist situations, current or biblical, to fit fact-less claims. The life did not exist, a person did not exist, and it was for a reason.
Rubbish Kristina from first word to last word. Life exists from the moment of conception. Fortunately for Mr. Jobs abortion was illegal when his mother was contemplating what to do with the child in her womb, and thus it was highly unlikely that she was going to choose to kill him. Your attempt to justify the slaying of innocent human life is pathetic, and that term, “pathetic”, will be a fitting epitaph for the the pro-abort movement when it is one with Nineveh and Tyre. May you live to see that happy day.
Some apparently have not investigated the statistics of the reasons for abortion. 25 percent of all women having abortions say that they are not ready for a child; yet they and the men with whom they slept were all too ready to have sexual intercourse.
23 percent claim that they cannot afford a child at the current time. Yet they and the men with whom they slept could afford to have sexual intercourse.
19 percent claim that they have completed their child-bearing years, yet apparently they and the men with whom they slept have not completed their years of sexual intercourse.
Eight percent claim they don’t want to be a single mother, yet without the sanctity of Holy Matrimony they and the men with whom they slept felt no qualms about engaging in sexual intercourse.
Seven percent claim that they are not mature enough, yet they and the men with whom they slept were apparently mature enough to decide to engage in sexual intercourse.
The bottom line is this: those who favor or otherwise seek to justify abortion want license without responsibility, sexual promiscuity without the consequences. And using drug addiction, lack of economic status, rape or incest as an excuse simply hides the facts: “I want my genitals titillated, but I don’t want to be responsible for the results.”
Surly when life begins is opinion, not yet proven by science (not that it would matter, religion seems to ignore scientific facts). Yet, people seem to associate one cell or a mass or cells with human life. They use it to judge other women. Which is humorous because controlling a woman’s right to her own body is just another way men aim to have complete control over women. Any woman who agrees to such an idea is just as pathetic as the men who cover up their Ill intentions with their “pro life” movement. Please, get the facts, and realize it’s pro choice not pro abortion.
No Kristina when life begins is a matter of fact not opinion. You wish to ignore that fact because you are a pro-abort and are all in favor of slaying the unborn if such is the desire of the mother. Preventing a woman from killing the child in her womb is no different than preventing a father or mother from slaying one of their kids outside of the womb.
religion seems to ignore scientific facts)
Do you really expect to be taken seriously when you utter such a buffoonish statement? The people who ignore science are people like you who continue to cling to the cliche that the fetus is a clump of cells. Medical science continues to progress to the point that anyone who denies that the fetus is a living being is truly an ignoramus.
because controlling a woman’s right to her own body is just another way men aim to have complete control over women.
Did you just copy and paste from the book of “well-worn pro-abortion cliches?” I mean I know that the “Occupy X” protests have left-wingers in bleating like sheep mode, but this is pretty funny even by the usual standards. Anyway, what’s particularly hysterical about this particular statement is that it is the opposite of the truth. You see the widespread availability of abortion and contraception has actually made it easier for men to objectify women as nothing more than sex objects.
And please, don’t lecture us about getting the facts straight when you can’t offer up an original insight.
Scientific facts.
From the moment of conception the zygote/embryo/fetus/child has its very own unique DNA. Not its mother’s DNA and not its father’s DNA, but its very own. It is indeed a very unique life. The DNA doe not match that of a plant or a dog, it is of the same type that all humans have.
This unique being has it’s very own life force – or soul, if you so choose. By that we mean as long as it is provided what it needs for life (appropriate food and environment, etc. like all other living things), it will continue to grow and develop. This is why you can have “test tube babies” or extract a child before the full gestational period and the child will continue to grow and develop – all as a very unique individual person.
Frankly you have to be incredibly ignorant or simply dishonest to claim that it is unknown to science when life begins.
I do agree that women have a right to control their own bodies just as men have the right to control their own bodies. I submit that the failure of BOTH to control their own bodies leads inexorably to unwanted pregnancy.
This is very simple. The right to choose comes BEFORE sexual intercourse, NEVER afterwards. The liberal Democrats claim to revere science and reason, yet when it comes to the titillation of their genitals, rational self-control and mastery of their own passions are thrown out the window. Furthermore, they would have us believe that their views are scientific when demonstrably their behavior is not.
Man is created in the image and likeness of God Almighty, and as such God expects man to use reason, objectivity and self-control in thinking and behaving. Rutting like a baboon in heat and then claiming “I have a right to control my body” is clearly oxymoronic. The person making the claim never controlled his or her body in the first place, and so murder is the result.
The morning after Steve Jobs passed, the wise and venerable Tom Brocaw commented on the Today Show that “secularly speaking, Steve Jobs was the spiritual leader of our time”. If that’s true, many of us are guilty of heresy and subject to having our iPhones ex-communicated.