Christopher Rose Tragedy

From the NYTimes:

"I didn't know who he was," Mr. Rose said yesterday. "He called me on my cellphone, at 4 maybe. Or maybe it was 5." Mr. Rose said he had stopped noticing the passage of time since his son was killed.

The men spoke for a few minutes.

Calling him by his first name, Mr. Jobs asked how Mr. Rose was doing, he said, and conveyed his sympathies. "He told me that he understood my pain," Mr. Rose said. "He told me if there is anything - anything - anything he could do, to not be afraid to call him. It really lightened me a bit."

...

"Some people talk to you like they're something remote," Mr. Rose said. "He was so familiar. After every word, he paused, as if each word he said came from his heart."

No parent would trade the life of their child for even a huge favor from Steve Jobs, but even if it was meant to stave off bad Apple press or foster some good, Steve Jobs came off as having helped the family. Jobs said that he really understood the pain they were going through, and although I don't know that he's literally lost a child, but he did at one point think he only had a couple of months to live and spent it with his family and kids like they really were his last (excerpted from the transcript found here):

About a year ago I was diagnosed with cancer. I had a scan at 7:30 in the morning, and it clearly showed a tumor on my pancreas. I didn't even know what a pancreas was. The doctors told me this was almost certainly a type of cancer that is incurable, and that I should expect to live no longer than three to six months. My doctor advised me to go home and get my affairs in order, which is doctor's code for prepare to die. It means to try to tell your kids everything you thought you'd have the next 10 years to tell them in just a few months. It means to make sure everything is buttoned up so that it will be as easy as possible for your family. It means to say your goodbyes.

Even though Jobs had months to do what Rose was deprived even a second for, at least it would seem Jobs was truly sincere in his telephone call. I originally wanted to post about the Christopher Rose's heroism in not giving up his friend's iPod, it boils down to a tragedy that we could only hope would lead to positive change, maybe with some help from Steve.

In the days since Christopher's death, Mr. Rose has spoken of finding meaning in his family's misfortune, and of working to help teenagers like the ones who attacked his son.

...

"We live in a world which is changing rapidly," Mr. Rose said. "We have the technology that can give us the iPod and everything else, but it's not all these things. We have to work on the minds and the hearts.

"We're failing these kids. We're not loving them like we're supposed to."