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Wayne
(138.26.43.31) on 1/18/2007 - 9:46 a.m. says: ( 35 views
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"Babysis is my new hero . . . WOW!"
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I like it (having no icons to honor Jeremy)
. . . a lot. All of this discussion of Jeremy has had a surprisingly
profound effect on me. I never had any direct encounters with Jeremy on
the VS, so my awareness of his existence was kind of peripheral. I saw
him come here a couple of times seemingly just to ruffle feathers, so I
might have discounted him altogether. But then I saw the effort UFNY
made to meet him at an LSU game in Gainesville, so I knew there must be
more there. Still, I didn't take the time to find out more.
Then, someone posted here on the VS linking to a post on WAB
about the first word of his suicide attempt. I clicked on it and saw
the reaction of a horrified group of people. Then, not long after that,
I saw the post with word from his sister that Jeremy had, indeed,
passed away. I cried. I never really knew this man, and my only real
image of him a mere 24 hours earlier had been one of a pain in the ass.
But I saw how his passing affected people I do know and care about and
I cried.
I found myself visiting Wayne's--something I rarely do at
all--several times a day during the past few days. I read all the posts
over there about Jeremy and learned more and more about the young man
behind the pain-in-the-ass persona. Every person who had met him shared
the same impression of a truly good and kind person who put strangers
at ease and made them feel like old friends. I read about people who
had regular e-mail conversations with him and how different he was in
that one-on-one exchange. I read about his deep devotion to his family
and wondered what could have brought him to do something that would
surely devastate them. I found myself compelled to donate for the
funeral of this man I had never met. Again, I pondered the effect he
had on people he had never met, and I thought about how he likely had
no idea how much he meant to so many other people.
I saw the introspection all this brought about and became
somewhat introspective myself. I was touched to read all of those
introspective posts, especially one in particular that made me feel I
had made a contribution to someone's life, a connection that would
never have happened but for these message boards. It made me say some
things to some people in my own life to make sure they knew how
important they were to me.
Last night, when I opened Wayne's board and heard the haunting
voice of Mahalia Jackson, I cried again. A young life is over, and that
is tragic and sad. That this young life affected so many others is
wonderful. That his family is learning just now about this whole world
of friends Jeremy had online is fascinating. That people who loved and
hated his board persona are coming together to find all the good about
him is inspiring. One of the good things about him that we can all
appreciate is that he contributed to the development of this community.
This online community is really just that--a community. All
this reminds me that all of us who spend time on the Mudduck or on any
other message board are communicating with real humans on the other
side of our monitors. This a community of intelligent people and
smartasses and people devoted to their schools and caring people and
fun people and funny and desperate people.
One of the ways Jeremy contributed to this community was
suggesting the idea of personal icons. Though they may seem trivial in
the big scheme of things, the personal icons are a big part of what
makes these particular message boards unique. That it bothers us so,
that it is so jolting, to come online and see no icons tells us just
how important this particular contribution was in making the Mudduck
what it is today. I value this community more than I can say--and more
than I realized before now. Each person here contributes something, and
we lost someone who contributed a lot. I think this little
day-without-icons tribute is fitting and a great way to make us all
take notice that one of us is gone.
RIP, Jeremy.
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College Football is a farce!
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