December 13, 2004

• Bingo. Candle lit for my dear friend, Pete, gone 8 years as of tomorrow. Thanks, bratcat, excellent reminder.
• Keith, 6 and a half years now. Thanks for posting this bratcat.
• Beautiful. Thank you, bratcat.
• I lit a candle each for my two sons Kyle and Tj, my father and my Aunt Alva. You guys are very welcome.
• Oh and for anyone who was taken away by the Iraq conflict, no matter where they are from.
• Thank you bratcat. I lit one for my Molly cat, who died in February.
• Jack, six years. thank you very much, bratcat.
• Candles for my grandmother and my cousin, who both died this year. What a beautiful little site.
• )
• Cheers to all of you who feel better lighting a virtual candle. But I'll light Christmas candles in my house, as I've done for years, for people I miss. And those candles will burn down to nothing over time, and remind me that life is fleeting. But while they burn, I'll have quiet conversations with their ghosts, and remember how brightly their spirits burned. The virtual thing is one step too far removed, for me. (Not intended to diss anyone. Just my excentricity.)
• No diss read into that, path. I think this is a wonderful addition to the real thing in that we can join a worldwide community in the remembrances. That can only be a good thing.
• I think that the value here is in knowing for whom y'all are lighting your candles. Virtual or corporeal. The community thang.
• thank you bratcat.
• Path, yea no diss taken. I do the real candles also. I felt this was just another way to say I care.
• I lit one in commemoration of your candles.
• anti-banana Let me know when I can virtually sacrifice an e-goat.
• Smallish Bear: Obviously, you know nothing about goat sacrifice. To sacrifice a goat, you'd have to get together more than just your own kids: maybe the whole block, or your cousins and their kids. You need a place in your apartment to keep your goat prior to the sacrifice date. Don't forget to sing and wear the proper clothing as you wield the knife. Just remember not to upset the neighbors.
• So basically you're saying that an HTML-based representation of an spiritual expression of emotion is meaningless? Thanks. BTW, your post would've made a good FPP.
• I smell pee-pee.
• In the pool-pool. And basically, she ain't sayin' no such thing.
• I lit one for the martyrs of the free spirit. I expect the whole edifice of man's inhumanity to man to tumble then evaporate by this time tomorrow night. (Though that might be an XHTML function only).
• I lit one for the persisting religious conventions of people who, as a group, seem to otherwise be more enlightened than loopy religious creationists. (I shouldn't drag out the snark, but I'm so bored.) A candle is so generic and perfunctory (an e-candle 100x as much). If you really want to show your respect and rememberance through flame, give him/her a mock viking funeral. (I was going to include links, but after a little research I've decided that the topic of viking funerals deserved a fpp, which I will now go construct.)
• I lit one for those who like to showcase their own intellectual superiority by pissing on others for finding some small measure of emotional comfort simply because they (the pissers) find it to be beneath them, even though said source of comfort hurts no one.
• I lit a candle for the people who defend the lazy methods of rememberance that discard all the things that make the lives of the departed special and unique and encapsulates what's left in a little animated gif among thousands of other little animated gifs in a single ultra-convenient mouseclick. God bless the internets. If I told my mom that I thought of my grandfather today and lit a candle for him on the internet, she'd think I was fucking nuts. And she'd tell me that she put a christmas wreath on his grave like a normal person. The whole point is to dedicate some time to think about them- really think, not give them a few moments while sitting in front of your computer screen between surfing mofi and boingboing. This drains out all the actual meaning behind the ritual and leaves behind a scrap of pointless religious symbolism.
• i takes my meaning wheres i kin gets it. tanks, ye bratty cat. )
• smallish bear: 1. How do you know the candle lighters haven't already "dedicate(d) some time to think about them- really think, not give them a few moments while sitting in front of your computer screen between surfing mofi and boingboing"? 2. Why do you care? I like your posts and comments. Lecturing people about how they're grieving incorrectly is beneath you. Have a banana.
• anti-banana A candle is so generic and perfunctory (an e-candle 100x as much). If you really want to show your respect and rememberance through flame, give him/her a mock viking funeral. I lit a candle for the people who defend the lazy methods of rememberance that discard all the things that make the lives of the departed special and unique and encapsulates what's left in a little animated gif among thousands of other little animated gifs in a single ultra-convenient mouseclick. Smallishbear, I do not appreciate you trying to demean any way I choose to remember my loved ones who are no longer with me. If you find my post so awful your first comment was sufficient enough and rude enough to convey that message. No need to keep pissing, move along, please. Btw, you have no idea how I have grieved for my two dead sons. Don't be an ass. I lit one for those who like to showcase their own intellectual superiority by pissing on others for finding some small measure of emotional comfort simply because they (the pissers) find it to be beneath them, even though said source of comfort hurts no one. MCT, Although, I don't believe smallishbear is my intellectual superior. I thank you for your defense. i takes my meaning wheres i kin gets it. tanks, ye bratty cat. ) Petebest, thank you and all the other posters who did appreciate my post.
• Oh and what Shinything said.
• I did think it might be a bit cheesy, but seeing it, I knew I was wrong. There is a power to seeing those flickering gifs, knowing that they are more than gifs - they are the thoughts and griefs and hopes of real people. My fiance was beside me when I was looking, and we both felt something more than ourselves. It isn't often that something on the internet gives me a little heartjump of awe - this was one of those moments.
• I did think it might be a bit cheesy, but seeing it, I knew I was wrong. There is a power to seeing those flickering gifs, knowing that they are more than gifs - they are the thoughts and griefs and hopes of real people. My fiance was beside me when I was looking, and we both felt something more than ourselves. It isn't often that something on the internet gives me a little heartjump of awe - this was one of those moments. Wow. Pass me some of whatever you're smoking. Joking aside, I'm afraid that's it- that last post crossed a line and I now feel there's no point. (It's like reading a thread on creationism- when someone says that god put dinosaur bones in the ground to test us, then the time for rational discussion has long passed.) I need to leave this thread behind forever. Don't take any of this personally. I don't like standardized rituals because they lack any personal expression, and I hate e-cards because they're too convenient to show any consideration. This combines the worst of both, that is all.
• When they make the internet out of wood . . . he'll be there. Seriously, bear did you look at it? I don't like standardized rituals because they lack any personal expression . . . "For all the inmates at William Head Penitentiary - you are forever in my heart! — from Redbird, Canada Sleep tight little Joey x — from Kelly (Bounty) xx, United Kingdom I would like to dedicate the candle to my late father John McKinley — from Ohio, United States To Sean and all the people serving over seas, may God be with all of you. Love, Mom — from Massachusetts , United States" I understand it's not handwritten, and that all the candles are the same .gif file but c'mon - those are the same qualities that make it simple expression. Like a message board when someone dies / leaves - the "." posts etc. It's valid, and for most people it's personal too.
• Not to mention that pissing on how other people deal with their suffering... I'm very sorry for your loss, bratcat. I can't imagine anything worse than losing children. I'll light one for you and yours this season.
• Thank you, MCT. Smallishbear, I don't agree this is anything like creationism. This sight is a small way to say "I care." To me it is just another way to say I have not forgotten those I lost, it is not the only way. You say not to take it personal. That, I am afraid, is not possible. Especially when those comments, are demeaning to me. I can't understand your need to feel so superior. Pity for you.
• Bratcat: I can't imagine the pain of losing a child. My thoughts are with you. After re-reading my first post, I hope no one took it in the spirit of mockery for the candle-lighters. I was poking a little fun at Bear for being a bit on the high horse about something that really isn't that big a deal to anyone not involved. I believe it's not the action that matters, but the spirit in which a ritual is performed that elevates.
• BlueHorse, thank you.
• I lit one for my dog, who died at age 15 earlier this year. The bestest. And I was tickled by the little flame left on my desktop. Nice post, even if not everyone's style. To each their own.