Tom Kirvan
Legal News, Editor-in-Chief
Legal News, Editor-in-Chief
Apple.
As in the company, not the fruit.
According to most published accounts, the popularity of the fruit served as the inspiration for the company’s name. As the legend goes, company co-founder Steve Jobs picked the name while on a fruitarian diet, settling on the moniker after a visit to an apple farm. There also was the belief that Jobs liked the label because it appeared ahead of video game pioneer “Atari” in the phone book.
Whatever the case, Apple has long been a darling of Wall Street, and now is among the “Magnificent Seven,” blue chip tech stocks that also include Alphabet (Google), Amazon, Meta (Facebook), Microsoft, Nvidia, and Tesla.
In 2018, Apple became the first company in the world to break the trillion-dollar barrier in value, doubling that mark within the span of two years. Its current $2.9 trillion value puts it in a neck-and-neck race with Microsoft for top dog status on Wall Street.
Its rise to prominence – and dominance – is on the scale of mind-boggling, fueled largely by a vision to make Apple products “user-friendly” and small enough that they could fit in a pocket, a purse, a backpack, or, even better yet, on a wrist.
Apple’s upward trajectory went sky-rocketing in 2007 with the introduction of the iPhone, the touch screen cell phone that revolutionized the way we communicate with each other. It was the game-changer that continues to drive much of the company’s growth, some 17 years after it came into the marketplace.
So, you might be wondering, what does a company like Apple have to do with our current political plight?
Plenty.
It’s a shining example of teamwork, and how marshalling forces and talents toward a common goal can make the impossible suddenly become quite possible, such as when a smartphone was developed that harnessed as much computing power in a hand-held device as the mega-sized mainframes of yesteryear. That, in and of itself, is astonishing and reflects the power of the human mind when it decides to do good.
Good, of course, has been in short supply in recent years, when greed and evil have elbowed their way back into our daily lives at an alarming level.
What we are seeing now on the political landscape is a reversal of our evolution as a civilized society, which hinges on a full embrace of the concepts of “civil” and “civility.”
Those words once formed the backbone of the political profession, which at various points has taken pride in displaying the art of compromise, resolving disputes peacefully and respectfully while bringing stakeholders together in finding a way forward.
Not so much in recent years, thanks in part to a 24/7 television news cycle that glorifies flamethrowing and polarizing political figures, instead of those devoted to being instruments of change by utilizing reason, understanding, respect, and tolerance for the beliefs of others.
Change, of course, can be a term subject to interpretation depending on one’s political point of view, which is why it becomes critically important that democracies around the world are preserved and protected. Nations need laws that guarantee elected officials are representing the collective voice of the voters, not the select wishes of an elite few or a fringe minority with a political axe to grind.
With those thoughts in mind, we hope that today’s political leaders can become the architects of a new and improved order, built from a blueprint highlighted by cooperation and a constructive approach to problem-solving.
It would be a political tour de force that could promote a sense of interconnectedness with the potential to create harmony where there has been havoc.
As in the company, not the fruit.
According to most published accounts, the popularity of the fruit served as the inspiration for the company’s name. As the legend goes, company co-founder Steve Jobs picked the name while on a fruitarian diet, settling on the moniker after a visit to an apple farm. There also was the belief that Jobs liked the label because it appeared ahead of video game pioneer “Atari” in the phone book.
Whatever the case, Apple has long been a darling of Wall Street, and now is among the “Magnificent Seven,” blue chip tech stocks that also include Alphabet (Google), Amazon, Meta (Facebook), Microsoft, Nvidia, and Tesla.
In 2018, Apple became the first company in the world to break the trillion-dollar barrier in value, doubling that mark within the span of two years. Its current $2.9 trillion value puts it in a neck-and-neck race with Microsoft for top dog status on Wall Street.
Its rise to prominence – and dominance – is on the scale of mind-boggling, fueled largely by a vision to make Apple products “user-friendly” and small enough that they could fit in a pocket, a purse, a backpack, or, even better yet, on a wrist.
Apple’s upward trajectory went sky-rocketing in 2007 with the introduction of the iPhone, the touch screen cell phone that revolutionized the way we communicate with each other. It was the game-changer that continues to drive much of the company’s growth, some 17 years after it came into the marketplace.
So, you might be wondering, what does a company like Apple have to do with our current political plight?
Plenty.
It’s a shining example of teamwork, and how marshalling forces and talents toward a common goal can make the impossible suddenly become quite possible, such as when a smartphone was developed that harnessed as much computing power in a hand-held device as the mega-sized mainframes of yesteryear. That, in and of itself, is astonishing and reflects the power of the human mind when it decides to do good.
Good, of course, has been in short supply in recent years, when greed and evil have elbowed their way back into our daily lives at an alarming level.
What we are seeing now on the political landscape is a reversal of our evolution as a civilized society, which hinges on a full embrace of the concepts of “civil” and “civility.”
Those words once formed the backbone of the political profession, which at various points has taken pride in displaying the art of compromise, resolving disputes peacefully and respectfully while bringing stakeholders together in finding a way forward.
Not so much in recent years, thanks in part to a 24/7 television news cycle that glorifies flamethrowing and polarizing political figures, instead of those devoted to being instruments of change by utilizing reason, understanding, respect, and tolerance for the beliefs of others.
Change, of course, can be a term subject to interpretation depending on one’s political point of view, which is why it becomes critically important that democracies around the world are preserved and protected. Nations need laws that guarantee elected officials are representing the collective voice of the voters, not the select wishes of an elite few or a fringe minority with a political axe to grind.
With those thoughts in mind, we hope that today’s political leaders can become the architects of a new and improved order, built from a blueprint highlighted by cooperation and a constructive approach to problem-solving.
It would be a political tour de force that could promote a sense of interconnectedness with the potential to create harmony where there has been havoc.
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