Rest in Peace @djgraphite

Yesterday, a close friend of many of my friends, someone whom I’ve met a few times myself, died in a motorcycle accident in northern California. I found out via Twitter. Over the past day, I’ve watched as word spread – mostly via Twitter and Facebook. As a small set of messages from those who were with him started being retweeted, the search feed for his twitter username, @djgraphite, quickly became very active. But as the retweets subsided, new messages took their place: People from around the world: some close friends, some acquaintances, some who’d never even heard of him, began sharing their condolences and memories of their friend, acquaintance, or fellow internet citizen. Even major sources  reported on the tragedy – Robert Scoble, Macworld, and others I’m sure.

Seeing this response gave me renewed hope for the internet. Sure, there are cesspools of nasty people who couldn’t care less if you die, but then there are masses of normal, caring human beings who empathize with each other and bring the kind of support I saw yesterday and today for Vinay’s family and friends. It is sad that this needed to be brought on by such a tragedy, but it is reassuring that a tragedy could bring on such a reaction.

Rest in peace Vinay. I only met you a few times, but you clearly had a great affect on my close friends. You were generous, caring, and fun to be around. If anything lies beyond death, I hope that it is all that you wished for.