Screenname Memorials
Earlier today, someone asked me over msn to include a certain smilie in my screenname because of Rhys Jones, a young boy who was killed recently.
wud u put a (so) infront of ur msn name in memory of that 11 year old rhys jones who got shot in liverpool plz
Nope.
Sorry.
y
I have my reasons.
more important den a childs life?
(Okay, that really annoyed me.)
Firstly, I did not know the child.
Secondly, what possible good would it do?
If you really want to help, why don't you campaign for better gun law control?
Putting a smilie in your msn name helps no one, especially not the child in question.
It just makes you feel like you're helping and stops you from actually doing anything.
okayy
I stand by what I said there. Putting a smilie in your msn name does no one any good but yourself. His family won't see it. Even if they did, might they not be offended, that a complete stranger who didn't even know their child is mourning them? How can you mourn someone you don't know? You can sympathise or empathise with their family, of course, but how does putting a single smilie in your msn name achieve this?
If you want to help, as I said, campaign to fix the causes that lead to the death of the person in question. Email the family, if you must, or write to the letters page of a newspaper, something they'll actually see, to say you're sorry for their loss, if you care that much.
Now, I'm not saying that the death in question was not tragic, although I haven't read up on the details. I do know that my putting a smilie in my screenname will not change anything, will not bring him back, and will not make anyone feel better except myself, and because it could only be because of selfish reasons, I refuse to do it. I personally feel that, in my case, it would cheapen his memory.
Now, I have no problem with Becky there having it in her screenname, or even asking me to have it in mine. It's natural to sympathise or empathise with someone's death, in subconscious hope that someone will do the same for you. What I object to was her question, whether my reasons for not doing so were "worth more than a child's life". The question doesn't even make sense. My screenname will not affect that child, or his parents, or anyone else. I didn't explain my reasons at first because I didn't want to sound preachy or argue, but if she's going to ask silly questions she can listen to me rant.
I posted all of that on an online forum earlier, but I think it makes my point rather well.