Normally, Games and Geekery is all about games and geeky stuff. Today, however, I found a link through my personal LiveJournal friends list that I thought to share with you folks, as it really made me think.

The article I read, which I found through a site called Making Light is an obituary. Normally, when I think of obituaries, I’m reminded of people who are deemed important, either to society, or to one’s immediate personal life. Such was not the case with that article.

Instead, we are introduced – or, more aptly perhaps, we say goodbye – to Neil Alan Smith, a 48-year old dishwasher who led a relatively quiet life, until he was hit by a car while taking his daily bicycle ride home from work. I will not say much about him here as the obituary in the first link speaks far more eloquently about the situation than I can, but I will say something about what brought about the article in the first place.

A troll, supposedly going by the name liquorbutt, wrote a comment (now deleted) on the original news article reporting the incident that said, “A man who is working as a dishwasher at the Crab Shack at the age of 48 is surely better off dead.”

The response to that comment is the obituary linked above.

It is saddening to note the state of affairs in the world today that would bring about trolls of this nature. At the same time, it is a testament to the goodwill of people to know that the everyman can be remembered, even for a little while, by the insulated minds and hearts we all happen to have.

Rest in peace, Mr. Smith.