Last week marked the passing of one of the great technological titans of our era. Steven P. Jobs, aged 56 years, passed away on Oct. 5, after a long and hard-fought battle with pancreatic cancer.

Jobs, a billionaire inventor, stood as the guiding light of Apple Inc. as it grew from a California garage upstart into one of today's premier gadget giants. His foresight and innovative ideas were essential in paving the way to making computers accessible and practical for everyone. In one way or another, Jobs' creations have found their way into our eager hands and captivated us with their genius. Steve Jobs was a true embodiment of the American dream; he understood his ability to create and harnessed his talents perfectly to great avail.

It is somewhat unfortunate that most of our opportunities to honor those who achieve greatness come after they die. In today's fast-moving world, we seldom take the time to appreciate the people behind the technology that drives us every day.

Society as a whole, particularly our generation, forgets to recognize that behind every new website, handheld device and laptop computer is a creative human mind. Instead of recognizing this, we focus on profit margins and stock prices and, because of that, we fall into the trap of thinking that only billion-dollar corporations can have world-changing ideas.

College students, as the architects of tomorrow, must avoid this type of thinking, lest we become cynics and lose our desire to create.

Pessimism surrounds us; the great economies of the world are mired in a recession and weakening rapidly. This is hitting close to home, as many among us know adults who are unemployed and wonder how we will be able to build a career in this economic climate after graduation. Americans seem to have lost hope and look toward protesters and politicians to solve the nation's problems.

The fact is that these are the last places we should be looking. No flavor-of-the-year politician has the influence or intellect to drive us all to prosperity. Wall Street Occupiers and Tea Partiers will only remind us of our problems, not solve them.

The only way to overcome hardship is to look within ourselves and, like Steve Jobs once did, realize and utilize our potential to create.

Human beings are unique in nature; while other animals exist to survive, we have the gift of being able to consciously alter our environment.

As a result, we are able to use parts of our environment that we find useful or desirable and share them with others.

In other words, each and every one of us has the innate natural ability to not only improve life for ourselves, but also improve the entire world.

Such achievements can never be accomplished without a great deal of courage and determination. Living within mental boundaries by reserving all of your thoughts to schoolwork will limit you. Having the best degree with the highest grade point average may help you to achieve a comfortable lifestyle, but that alone will never change the world.

Pay attention to the little things around you and never hesitate to spend a few hours a day reading for leisure. Odds are, you will begin to realize small ways that you can improve yourself and the lives of those around you.

Everyone has the potential to revolutionize something in this world. In the last 10 years of his life alone, Steve Jobs irrevocably altered the way we listen to music with the iPod and launched mobile computing further into the future with the iPad.

You and I must help to push humanity down the road of creative invention. After all, there is no better way to honor the memory of a great man like Steve Jobs than becoming men and women of his caliber.