Eon Ayres

I didn't know Eon Ayres, but that doesn't really matter. This resident is a mystery to me. The reason I'm posting this is because there's a certain helpless emptiness that comes when I hear about a recently-deceased resident of SL. We've all experienced it... First there's the doubt -- not simply because people like to fake their own deaths online, but because the first, innate human response to grief is denial.

What I'm getting at is that, as someone who doesn't know a lot of people, with a small family, someone who has only cried over a lost loved one a couple of times in her twenty-five years, I find myself more speechless and more helpless than others might because I simply cannot fathom the kind of words I could say that would help or lessen any burden of pain. And because it would be awful to simply walk away, I am always left gape-mouthed and terrified, filled with guilt, because some subconscious part of me feels like there ought to be a response coming out of me. It's robotic, in a way.

Still, the point of my posting is this: If you live both an online life and a real one, whether you're a resident of SL or just do a lot of instant messaging, consider writing up a quick document that contains your passwords and people you would like to notify in case something terrible happens to you. As a person who suffers from a constant fear of the pain she would leave behind in others if she passed on, I can say matter-of-fact-ly that knowing such a document exists will help assuage the kind of fear that could keep you from living your life normally.

On the flip side, I also advise you to always treat every meeting and encounter as if it will be your last -- to an extent. I do this, but it tends to sadden me... still, I fight with the idea that were I not to do this, that I would spend years hating myself if something were to happen to someone the day I chose not to look at them as they passed down the stairs out of sight.

I don't know... perhaps it's more healthy in the long-run to be more frivolous. Perhaps it's easier to get over knowing you didn't say everything you could have said than it is to live the (more likely) day-to-day, lucky life around someone you care about constantly terrified that they'll get into a car accident or have a desperate asthma attack when you aren't around... regardless, don't take anything for granted this year if you can help it. And by that, I mean, be safe, smart, and care about others just as much as you care about yourself.