Email menu option:
“Remove all attachments” —
Zen tip from Apple.

I’m a longtime Apple fan. From the first Mac Classic computers I used in the Stanford library in 1985, to the MacBook Pro and iPhone I use today, Apple products have been a big part of my life.

I love Apple’s deceptively simple, intuitive user interface. And I love the focus on nurturing the user’s creativity with programs and apps for music, photos, video and much more.

Sure, I’ve had my share of technical problems and aggravations with my Mac. But my occasional frustrations with Apple are like the conflicts you have with a family member: you know that no matter what, you’re going to be together for life.

Overall, it seems Apple tries to strip away everything extraneous to allow the user’s creative process to flow. There is something Zen about that aesthetic. And isn’t the visionary Apple co-founder Steve Jobs, in his trademark black turtleneck, a modern-day Zen priest of sorts? It doesn’t surprise me to learn that he and his wife were married by a Zen Buddhist monk.

I know the Apple Mail email option to “remove all attachments” wasn’t meant to evoke the Buddhist concept of letting go of worldly attachments. Nonetheless, it makes me smile inside every time I click on it.

But I’m still really, really attached to my Mac.