What is a Life Worth: Steve Jobs

Steve Jobs is trying to say that you should live every day like it is your last. He knew his life had value to him and his family. He felt like life was worth living even though once in a while a hard choice would come along to toughen his life. Making a choice is very hard, but when making a choice it should be one that you will not regret later in life. Making choices is one of the hardest things in life so you must see all the good and all the bad to the outcome of your options. Live everyday like it is your last. Ebert says that life is a very precious thing. Hamlet wants to die, but him not knowing what is on the other side scares so he decides to live. Even though Ebert had to get surgery, he got through it and learned to still live his life with no regrets.

Living every day like it is your last is good way to live. He wanted to know what his life was worth. So he decided to make something of it. He went to Stanford dropped out, best decision of his life, then started up his own company. He realized that one day you can be the richest man on earth then the next you’re just another dead person. So he kept on doing what he wanted to do. Also not giving up is a key way to stay in the economic race. When Steve got fired from his company, Apple, he didn’t give up kept trying to make it. So he came up with Pixar which is now the most successful animation studio. He then made another company named NeXT. Then, got back into Apple. He never gave up because he knew he still had the intelligence that he needed. If we were all like Steve we would also be able to come up with great new inventions. He never regretted one choice he made.

Ebert and Jobs always lived everyday like it was their last. After Ebert went through surgery he may have thought that he would rather die, but instead he saw the better things in life and continued to do what he did best. He even helped people understand him by inventing rudimentary sign language. I am not Ebert but I feel it is safe to say he did not regret the choice of staying alive. He was a man with great intellectuals and kept fighting his way through life. Jobs point in his essay is that living your life how you want and with no regrets. “I know it is coming, and I don’t fear it.” (Ebert 6). Do not fear death. It is not something to fear. It is just something that comes at the end of something great. In this case a great life.

Hamlet was a person who didn’t value life as much as others. He lives with the curiosity of what is after death. He did not completely live like everyday was his last. He did not even know if life is worth living. In his soliloquy he asked “To be or not to be?” (Shakespeare III. ii. 1) I believe that he was asking himself if he should be alive or not and find out what is after death. If Hamlet had to put a price tag on life I feel like he could. A large percentage of the world does not believe you can not put a price tag on anyones life no matter who it is. The government only does it to provide some sense of economic help. They don’t “put a price tag on a life.” They just calculate what he would make in his living and what he spends on himself. It is only for help. The value of life has no price that is why we should value it. People see life as a gift from god, and they value it severely and thank him for it everyday. Ebert was a person who knew the value of life and did not fear death. There are many more like him.

So what is the value of life? It is more of what is the value of my life? Instead of just trying to make money, you should try to also have fun and living life to the fullest is the best way to go. If you want to know what is after death do not wonder so much. One day you’ll know if it is absolutely nothing, something precious or something horrible. Until then you should value life, do things, learn, live. Live everyday like it was your last.

Works Cited

1. Ebert, R. (2011). Life itself: A memoir. Grand Central Publishing.
2. Hamlet by William Shakespeare
3. Jobs, S. (2005). How to live before you die. TED Talk.
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8. Seneca. (2016). Letters from a stoic. Penguin Classics.
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