I didn’t know Wally: personally or otherwise. I mean no disrespect and I’m sorry if anyone finds this to be inappropriate. I just want to say that you people amaze me and I’m so thankful I made the choice to register at the SDMB. Because you all have spoken (typed?) so well of this man, I was compelled to read each and every thing I could find that he had composed. He was HILARIOUS!! You were all so lucky to have been in the cyber company of that man. And what you have done in the hours since he left this earth is inspiring to everyone. You have shown me that there are caring and decent people still left in the world, even if you can only find them behind a computer screen. Every thing you have done: the memorial threads, the page for Wally, and the :wally (which I find to be an especially caring and thoughtful gesture)…all this for a man that many of you have never even met. It’s unbelieveable. It’s amazing. It’s inspiring. And I’m sorry for the great loss you have all suffered.
Gee, that’s a nice tribute, Silver. I find it rings true with me, too, since I didn’t really know him. (Despite having registered more than a year ago, I haven’t been active at this site for more than a few weeks.)
At another web site, the daughter of one of our members was in a critical accident. All of us came together over that incident too. Anyone who doesn’t think cyber-friendships are real hasn’t taken the time to be a real person on the internet.
Like us.
I’m a newbie, but what I have seen so far convinces me that the internet and SDMB are wonderful things. Scenes such as the support and love found here truly encourage the betterment of society.
Its nice to know that for all the crap availible online, its just as easy to blunder into empathy and compassion.
hugs.
It has been my experience on the that people eiter go off the wall and pretend…or they totally lay their lives out.
I am amoung the latter. The net either opens you up or shuts you down. Damn if I know what causes either…
Wally…rest well…may your memory make the SDMB a better place.
I came into this forum with the thought of posting exactly what this OP says. I am quite proud to be part of this board.
I was telling my s.o. about Wally, and I realized that I was talking sadly about someone I’d never met and barely knew. While explaining what Wally meant to everyone, I realized out loud that this is so much more a community than any other board I have ever seen.
So, thanks everyone.
-S
P.S. the smiley that they set up in his honor brought a tear to my eye. that is so cool.
I stunned myself when I read the news. I’ve never met Wally; he has given me advice on occasion, and as awesome sig line, but…I didn’t expect to cry over someone I never met. Or go through today feeling strangely lost…I can’t explain it. But I feel out of sorts…it makes me wasnt to be a better person. There will never be another Wally, but I want to learn from this and try to live the same way he did: with brevity, humor, wit, love, and kindness. I miss ya Wally, you :wally, you!
Ditto. I don’t think Wally and I ever even posted to the same thread, but I found myself lying awake for a long time last night thinking about it. It really surprised me.
I fully expected my hubby to either laugh at me or at least look at me strangely this morning when I got teary explaining about Wally. He didn’t, he just held me while I cried and said he understood that even though I had never met him, he was still a friend. (Hubby is registered and lurks every now and then so he knows who Wally is but he never interacted with him.) My mother, on the other hand, thinks I’m insane.
It seems to me that an inevitable side-effect of the expansion of the internet into all avenues of life is this increasing contact with people we may never meet. And I guess that’s something that’s always been via other medium and it’s that many of us take for granted, but it does give one pause. I’m with Silver_Fire; I didn’t know Wally but I researched his posts, and he made me laugh to the point of tears a number of times. The many tributes to him are touching, to say the least.
I, too, was telling my husband about Wally last night. We talked about what an effect people can have on one another via the internet. I sorta thought he might not want to hear about the death of someone he doesn’t know, but it wasn’t the case. He’s followed the case of the injured girl I mentioned earlier closely too.
Then I told him all about the gerbil story and he made me promise I’d email it to him today!
:wally