Steve Jobs, RIP

I'm going to aim to write an essay on him or something (because I'm homeschooled awesome like that!), but for now, here's an interesting article to read. My gosh, what if Apple never existed?

Article

Equivalent Exchange?

In the anime, "Fullmetal Alchemist", there's the first law about alchemy: "Humankind cannot obtain something without first giving something in equal value." The two main characters, Edward and Alphonse Elric, both brothers, take this law by heart. Equivalent Exchange. Can't get something without giving something up of equal value.
Despite the discouragement the badguys fling at them, saying that Equivalent Exchange doesn't exist because life is not fair - the Elric brothers work tirelessly to get what they want most in life. They want to believe that their hardwork isn't for nothing - that there is still some good and benefit in their risky endeavors and hardships. Of course life isn't always fair. That is one of the many things we have to accept. What we do about it - that's what matters.

I'm going to try not to reveal a lot of the story, but there's an important scene that I'd like to use to stress my point. It's where the brothers try to bring their mother back from the dead. Abiding by the law of equivalent exchange, they conjure up some iron, water, protein, and other elements that make the human body. Then for DNA, they draw some of their blood. Once the magic is begins, things start to go wrong. Edward loses his leg and Alphonse loses his body in the dangerous process. To save his brother's life, he gives up his right arm so that he could bind his soul to an armor. Not a very nice result. Basically, the entire story is about the two brothers who have sworn after that attempt, to get their bodies back to the way they were, by secretly finding a way around the law of equivalent exchange.

We all have to pay some sort of price to get what we want sometimes. To get the job or career we want, we need to pour amounts of time and study. And to maintain that job, we give dedication and hard work. And so on. But not everything comes out the way we want. Maybe we get sick and all our hard work comes to nothing. Maybe some of us do everything we can to study at intense hours at something, and fail an exam. Where's the equivalent exchange in that, you may ask?
You have to remember that it's never the end of that. There's Someone out there who loves you, beyond any equivalency. We can't even measure, let alone find a way to give something back to suffice that love.
Maybe you got sick because there was something, or someone else more important who needs your attention. Maybe you failed the exam because the job you were supposed to get, was later bankrupt. What I'm saying is, that God's love goes beyond equivalency.

In order to save mankind, God gave us His only Son. He died for us so that we may be His, using Himself as the price. One Person to buy all of us? Equivalent? With His overflowing love, I'd say that it was more than enough. But yes, it doesn't end there. What we do is definitely not enough to equal that Love God has poured out for us. I'd like to think that it's Jesus who's brought us back to life, using His own Blood and flesh as a sacrifice, just how Ed and Al tried to do for their mom. Our actions themselves may not be enough, but maybe that resolve and love we restlessly and unconditionally give away may be.

hi.