I echo the comments above.
When Derek at Skepticality (another skeptical podcast) was hit by an anyeurism (?), hovered near death and then gradually recovered, shock and sympathy resounded through the podcasting community.
I listen to many podcasts, but this is the first death of a podcaster I’ve experienced. It’s awful. We DO become connected to the podcasters we listen to. I’m crying as I write this. I’m a long-time listener, but haven’t visited this forum, much less registered, til now. I do so now as part of dealing with the loss. When someone close to us dies, we gather to memorialize him, to comfort each other and to find closure for ourselves. This is my attempt to do that.
I can’t say for certain that, like me, Perry was an atheist, but it does go hand in hand with skepticism. Death is one of those Big Issues where the faithful have their mistaken beliefs to comfort them.
We counter this with “living on in the memory of those around him and the impact he had on others”. Some of us have a bigger impact on others than, well, others do. My point is that, through the podcast, Perry had a bigger impact on others than most.
Ironically(?), having touched more lives, Perry’s death brings sadness to more people than the loss of someone who was lower profile. The flip side, if you will.
Another refuge is to defuse pain with comedy. I do that. And, after all, I’m a clown. So, just as Kurt Vonnegut joked at Asimov’s funeral “Isaac is in Heaven now” (and the joke was reprised at Kurt’s funeral)…
Perry “DeAngelis” is now “of the angels”.
Please don’t flame me for insensitivity. It’s my way of dealing with his loss and comes sincerely from appreciation. And, funny as Perry was, I believe he’d want humor to be included in how he’s remembered. I -did- skip the second and even less tasteful joke I came up with.
Bye Perry. You were appreciated. You’ll be missed.
Our lives were enriched by your presence. I was going to say they’ll be diminished by your loss, but that’s not right. But they won’t be further enriched as they would’ve been had you stayed around for a while longer. So part of our sadness is the loss of potential future-Perry.
Bruce
