Public mourning

When a huge public figure dies, where you were and what you were doing becomes ingrained in your mind. This is true, I learned it in my communication class. Think about it, where were you when Princess Diana died? Or at least when you heard the news that she had passed away? Same goes for Pierre Trudeau (for my Canadian peeps) or Michael Jackson?

So when Steve Jobs died, oh man, I knew it would be a big deal. I always thought he was super neat, black turtlenecks and all. I had heard he was also super controlling and had a bit of a temper, but I guess even the greats have their flaws right?

What is also interesting to see is how people mourn. I was in LA when MJ died. Within a few hours, only his music was blaring on the radio. Around where I lived in south central LA, people were already selling t-shirts with his image. Vigils were held at his star on the Walk of Fame. People need and like to mourn publicly.

For Steve Jobs, people held vigils at Apple stores. I was at an Apple Store back in Mississauga during Thanksgiving and saw this:

I think seeing people's overwhelming connection to Jobs and to his Apple products displayed publicly a) showed how big of a reach he had and b) demonstrated just how resounding his influence was/is on technology/branding/etc. Honestly, I was so touched by some of the stuff I read, I was tempted to write something on a post-it note too. People loved him and I guess as a reporter, it's always interesting to see how people respond and react to these types of things. Like after 9/11, people went out and gave blood because they wanted to at least do something to help, do something to at least maybe make a difference. Same with every other disaster or death, you just want to respond and know that you aren't in it alone.