We hear all the wonderful comments, tributes, praise, stories and eulogies from the well-known, such as Gruber, Arment, LaMarche, Rundle, Jardine, Drance, Hockenberry, Moren, Jurewitz, Ritchie, English, Benjamin, Sadun, Viticci, Snell, Siracusa, Swisher, Mossberg, Pogue, Gemmell, Zarra, Ihnatko, Wozniak, Fried, Siegler, Dudney, Dediu, Dalrymple, Gelynse, Frakes, Doll, Dilger, McCracken, Mantia, Wiskus, Hillegass, Mace, Gassée, Lisagor, Simmons, Mrgan, Scoble, Blanc, Dash, Winer, Mann, Brooks, and so many others who are very well-respected and accomplished in the subspace we work in.

But there are also “the rest of us” — the nobodies, the invisible, unheard, unknown, silent, and voiceless, like Zac, Doug, Guy, Josh, Mac, Irving, Mick, Jose, Mike, Kevin, Jason, Lynn, Tim, Ryan, Jens, Ben, Andre, Matt, Alex, Israel, Renee, Roy, Julian, Sanjay, Marc with a “c” and me, Mark with a “k” — and hundreds of thousands of others who cried and felt the loss deep down in our guts, and whose loud chorus of respect and praise may go unheard.

We too are the “crazy ones, the misfits, the rebels, the trouble-makers, the round pegs in the square holes, the ones who see things differently, who aren’t fond of rules and have no respect for the status quo…”[1] And while we may currently be the ones you can’t quote, disagree with, glorify or vilify, the only thing we shouldn’t do is ignore us because we can also change things and push the human race forward in our own way.

It’s comforting to know Steve can now hear us all from the other side.

Thanks, Steve, for giving us a remarkable point of reference, and a flame to fly toward.

[1]  Video: Here’s To the Crazy Ones (Narrated by Steve Jobs)