busy moving on

Rosson House Chalk, a photo by Digital Heather on Flickr.

I often find myself sitting and wondering about all of the people that the internet has chewed up and spit out. Well not all of the people. I guess just some of the ones I know of. Jessi Slaughter. Chris Chan.

I didn't follow the events as they hit the fan. In fact, I didn't know anything about these two until earlier this year. They were already busy moving on with their lives.

Between the two, I felt really bad for Chris Chan. A lot of people will tell you not to, that he brings it on himself. The more I read about him, the worse I felt. I even went as far as to friend request him on facebook, back when I had one. He never responded to any of my requests or messages. I'm sure he figured I was a troll and the fact that I specifically said, "I'm not a troll" still raised a red flag. I guess I'm happy that these days he's being more cautious. The trolling he has endured gives me a very sad headache. My intent was to just be nice to him. I felt like he didn't have enough people being nice. Everyone deserves that.

I arrived to the party way too late. The person I was feeling sorry for isn't there anymore. Chris Chan has changed a lot-- maybe all the trolling and or his personal struggles. He's just an angry man now. I gave up my efforts awhile back.

I also sometimes think about the fathers of Jessi and Chris. They spent the last couple years of their lives dealing first hand with the internet backlash and how it was affecting their child on a daily basis. And then each father passed away. I can't even imagine the daily stress. Having said that, I do agree that it all could have been avoided and the events that played out are just consequences of kids with unlimited access to the internet.

I did dumb things as a kid. I also did dumb things as a kid on the internet. Lucky for me and my adult life, I didn't have internet in my home until I was 16. I had a brief encounter with poor choices and hopefully my poor choices aren't floating around the internet anymore. Who knows.

At the end of the day though, they're just people.