It’s really kind of a shocker. I have communicated often with so many people here that I ultimately learn has died. Lynn being the latest. It’s just not something I ever would have imagined would be an almost “regular” event as part of the community.
I don’t know quite why I find this shocking – I suppose it shouldn’t be – but I certainly experience it far more often than I do IRL.
No doubt! Y’all need to quit that. You don’t see me up and dying, do ya?
Oh god, I missed that one. You’re not kidding - I know there are a lot more people on here that I “know” than I actually know in real life, and that they’re probably a wider range in age and health, but damn if it doesn’t seem like people keep dying.
I hope you understand, then, how lucky you are. I’m only 47, so most of my friends are between 21 & 60 or so… and I’ve had 4 friends die since 1 January 2014.
An aneurysm (at work), a diving accident, a traffic accident and I still haven’t found out how the last one died (it’s only been about 40 hours since I heard he had passed away).
Still, the number of Dopers that I’ve known who’ve passed away is disheartening. And yeah, it always seems to feel like a slap in the face with a wet fish to read the news.
I’m with you, Jim.
My “circle” of people I recognize by “name” is much broader here on the Dope than in real life, and because board culture is to provide an announcement, we know for sure when a death happens. In contrast, I only have a small group of people I know well, and a larger, but still fairly limited group of people I know by sight in my real community. In addition, if someone in my library just stops coming in, or a long-time clerk at the grocery is gone, I may never know they passed, just dimly realize I haven’t seen them in a while.
It is startling. Makes me realize that my IRL society is really limited and small, and that my community doesn’t do much to make a broader swathe of acquaintances aware of people’s passings. Perhaps I should start doing like my elderly coworkers and my grandmother do, and read the obituaries daily.
