When the universe thinks of Steve Jobs, it might see a balding head with intense eyes peering through round wire eyeglasses. Or, maybe it sees a colorful photo of a younger Jobs with computer in his lap. In all the ways it portrays Jobs, there's likely one thing in common: an Apple product.

Jobs founded Apple with two other friends in 1976--a technology company worth an estimated $750 billion today. Before his death, Jobs became the business’ CEO and the face of Apple--that warm product in the form of an iPad or an iPhone, purring in our arms when we're alone at night. Yeah, we love the products Jobs gave us, but why do we love him? I'm going to venture a guess that it's not as much that he is the face of some of our favorite products, as it is the admiration we have for the rugged way he pursued his dreams. It's like he was a ruthless John Wayne in a technological frontier, and, well, who doesn't love a modern cowboy?

This really isn't that far-fetched. Look at Jobs' early career, for instance. Jobs was assigned a project that he promised to complete in only four days. Unable to fulfill this promise on his own, Jobs asked his friend and future Apple co-founder, Steve Wozniak, to tackle the project. Wozniak’s creation of Breakout was so exceptional that Jobs received a substantial bonus. He kept this bonus secret from his friend, only paying him a few hundred dollars for the project. Roaring and courageous, Jobs gloried in this feat, although most of the attention belonged to Wozniak. In this same way, Jobs managed Apple when a CEO: He surrounded himself with talented creators who mastered incredible technological innovations. In Apple meetings at he was savage. He bullied people if he didn't like their ideas. He also threatened those who wanted to leave the company.

Yeah, Jobs was fierce in the workplace, but it didn't stop there. Look at how he wooed his college lover. When Jobs fancied Chrisann Brennan one day on his college campus, he wasted no time in writing expressing his romantic feelings for her. How did he do it? He rewrote Bob Dylan songs to describe his emotions. After he impregnated Chrisann with child, he also took no time in getting out of the relationship. He even brought the case to court, lying that he was infertile and that his child wasn't really his. This man was a go-getter, and he knew what he wanted. Like a cowboy, though, he never fit in, and preferred to be alone.

This guy seems amazing because people's thoughts of him didn't control how he acted. Instead, he controlled people's thoughts. It's like the world was Monument Valley, and he was the wild cowboy. He symbolized that anyone could be anything if they just took the reigns in our own hands. Just like we do with John Wayne, and Clint Eastwood, we all want to be like Steve Jobs, and make something out of nothing, in our own terms. I'm pretty sure that is why we love him, and why we're still idolizing him today. Just a thought.