Monday, June 25, 2007

Reality Check


I just found out that the blogger NYC Watchdog lost his five-year-old son to a swimming accident recently.

This is real life. Real loss.

It's so easy to get caught up in the surreal life of the internet. To keep everything and everyone at digital distance. To view people as nothing more than words on a screen.

It's easy to tease. To ridicule. To taunt. To offend. To push. To troll. To scream. To threaten.

It's easy to not give a shit.

Ironically, last year I got caught up in a "blog war" that started with a conversation about pit bulls and ended up traveling from blog to blog, commenter to commenter, insult to insult. NYC Watchdog was one of those who was pulled into the whole mess. He was just another grouping of words on a screen, just like everyone else.

Not now.

Suddenly, he's a father being ripped apart from the inside by losing what was most important in his life. He lost his child. His son. His best friend.

I can't even begin to imagine what he's going through. But I do know that right now, I don't want to be at work. I want to be at home with my kids.

There's a fund that's been set up to help NYCWD. Click the icon above (in my sidebar as well) for details.

Peace, everyone.

8 comments:

Granny Snark said...

I once heard someone say that "we're not made to bury our children" and I believe that. God, my heart breaks for that guy ... what he must be going through right now is just the most heinous kind of unspeakable grief.

I commented on his site, and I saw that you did too.

Thanks for posting this in his honor.

Avitable said...

Thank you for posting this.

Anonymous said...

I had this up yesterday morning before I started "fixing" my broken template. Glad I saw this post 'cause it reminded me to put it back up.

My daughter goes to the YMCA pool with and without me all the time, and I've never been uneasy about that until now. My heart broke for NYCWD.

Falling on a bruise said...

It is easy to lose perspective on the internet, as you say, we see the text on the screen and sometimes forget that there is a real person on the other end.
My sympathies go to NYCWD and what he and his family are going through. Heartbreaking.

Deadman said...

Nice sentiment, Jeff. Definitely a tragedy.

Natsthename said...

I cannot even begin to imagine the pain he's in right now.

Thanks for your post, Jeff.

Anonymous said...

I feel for any parent that looses a child...I would probably roll over and die if anything happened to any of mine...

O' Tim said...

What PJ said

[heading for hug somewhere]