Maybe I'm cynical, maybe it's because at this point in my life I can't possibly identify with him, but I have a hard time feeling sorry for this guy. Yea, OK, he's got a loss (if it's, in fact, true - which you can rarely be sure of with the internet) - but to air it publically and make going ons about it? And to do so in such a... trite way?

Ugh, tacky. He may as well post, "ZOMG, LOOK AT ME, MY WIFE DIED," to his blog.

And sheesh, all this commotion over some chick's LJ? What's WRONG with people? Over at another place I hang out, LJ (and xanga and myspace and so on) are routinely ridiculed because THEY ARE ALL EXACTLY THE SAME.

"READ AS I POST MY ANGST! I AM A UNIQUE SNOWFLAKE. LET ME TELL YOU ABOUT MY DAY. CURRENT MOOD: REFLECTIVE. LISTENING TO: BLINK 182 (OMG I <3 THEM!)"

God, I just want to punch those people in the face.

Well, I must take the opposite site of Tim. I remember when my wife's mother died of cancer. I remember when an old girl friend I knew died of cancer. It is a horrible thing.

I did not know Kielle, but I've been reading through the posts of her fight with colon cancer and comments by her friends from around the world.

The tribute to Kielle is touching, it is important. I remember years ago when I studied Grief counseling. We talked a lot about the importance of such tributes.

Rest in Peace, Kielle.

Why? What's important about the tribute?

Especially ones like this. It smacks of a pity party.

I agree that such a death is a terrible thing, and I can understand working through grief - but this.. this is blogwhoring his wifes death to the world.

If it's not outright insulting to her memory, it's certainly tacky tacky tacky as I said.

I can't disagree with the absurdity of LJ. But my post wasn't about that... it was about this guys loss. And if I lost Jennifer, would I not write something similar? Would it be trite? I would share it with you, with the "world" because that's what I tend to do. I think it would take a while... I think it would probably take a few months even before I could say something, but I would certainly say it. I don't think it's trite to write about your loss. Whether he and/or she were beautiful snowflakes isn't the point. It's about losing someone so young, and what you do with the rest of your life. You live wanting to share with someone who isn't there.

Yes, but I would expect that, because we're friends and because friends should be there for each other in times of loss and tragedy.

But come on, splashing it all over the internet? I mean, look at this thing. It's taken on a cult-following.

Eh, I dunno. Maybe I wouldn't have such a problem with it if it didn't seem like this guy was purposely writing for an audience.

I mean, look at it:

"I watched as the light slowly faded from her eyes. It was so gentle, like she was falling asleep."

"I am adrift, broken, lost. I cannot even encompass the crushing, catastrophic loss this means for me."

"And I'm 32. I have a long life to live with this agony."

I mean, honestly. It doesn't get more banal and contrived than that.

This guy is an attention-whore, and he's pimping out his dead wife to get it.

I think to even have a journal is to be an attention whore, unless it is so private only your close friends know about it. I would post my thoughts to the internet... not just the few who would read it. But then again, you already know that in times of need I will use the web as a tool for communication to those I need to reach out to the most... and will ignore the wishes and wants of the regular users.

My understanding is that it's taken on a cult following not because of him, but because of his wife, who apparently was very popular.

I can't entirely understand the types of people out there whose friends are primarily online. They have a vast network of people who they speak to, who they will communicate with one-on-one. Even at WB's prime, I would try to distance myself... I'd talk to a person one-on-one, but I didn't pretend to be anybody's friend.

I find the comments section in his post more interesting than anything. Lots of "I Love You" and the like. Love is a word we throw around... it makes it meaningless in our society, so that when it's time to tell someone, that special someone, that we LOVE them, it doesn't mean what it should. It really just means "I like you." We need a better word for what used to be called love.

Tim,

The reason all of this is on-line is because the vast majority of Kielle and Chris' friends are on-line. Something that you would have discovered if you had spent even five minutes in research is that Kielle has been a major figure in the creation, maintainance and support of dozens of on-line communities. There are literally thousands of people who know them both, and would not know a single thing about her death if not for Chris announcements.

It's not for you, Tim. It's not for the casual searcher, and it's certainly not a plea for attention. Chris has been remarkable enough to know, outside of his own grief, that a vast number of people are also grieving, and that they can take comfort in knowing her last minutes were without pain, surrounded by the ones she loved. It was written for an audience, and that audience was made up of the people Kielle has touched both heavily and lightly over the last twelve years on-line.

--Dex

*rolls eyes*

You know, I hang out at another site pretty regularly, and we have a saying around there...

"TEH INTRENET IS SERIOUS BUSINESSSS!!!!!!!11111one11one"

>>>There are literally thousands of people who know them both, and would not know a single thing about her death if not for Chris announcements.

Announcements? More like splashing.

These people need lives.

"These people need lives."

Yes, well, that's kind of the problem isn't it... her life is over.

So? What does that have to do with her little cult-following?

I've been thinking about this a bit... I wonder if her little cult is just a bunch of pathetic losers looking for a reason to feel something. These people obviously don't have lives, so how often is it that they get to feel something outside of the tedium that is waking up, going to work, coming home, reading blogs, and going to sleep?

Are people nowadays so deprived of REAL human contact, are they so out of touch with reality and humanity, that they must latch onto the banal ramblings of some guy with a dead wife?

I can understand providing comfort and sympathy when you friend dies - but these people aren't her friends. They're schmucks who basically hang out in the modern-day version of an AOL Chatroom.

Give me a break.

And the husband... he's the worst of them all. He's like all these people combined, and on steroids. He should be ashamed of himself.

I don't understand how the banal lives of her readers reflects on her husband. He's just posting his feelings and thoughts... she was the one who had this online community that read her every word. (How is that really any different from WB?) He could have just left them hanging... wondering what happened to her... but he chose to make a statement.

And yes, life is tedious. You wake up, go to work, come home, read blogs or get drunk or watch TV, and then you go to sleep. We all do this to some extent. I think it's sad that so many people spend so much time online. But punish the cult... not the people they worship.