We Are All LosersOct 11 '01 Write an essay on this topic.
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The Bottom Line Cancer needs to be beaten. Funding needs to be increased so that this monster can be exterminated.
There isn't a doubt in my mind, that on Tuesday evening, God gave out a "Most Helpful" rating to a new member of the Heaven community. The news I read Wednesday night hit me harder than most anything has in the past, and I found myself in tears immediately. Hard_To_Please is gone. We here at Epinions, and those in his life, have lost one of the nicest people. Most people knew him through his humorous writings on here. I count myself among that group. I am infinitely poorer for not having gotten to know him better than the occasional email, the posting on message boards we both belonged to, and the virtual cards he would send to some of us from time to time. This is such an incredible loss. Rarely do we meet someone who genuinely cares about us. I sincerely believe that Mark was one of these people. If it was a review he enjoyed, he let you know it in the comments, maybe even wrote you a personal email, I can't remember him ever having a bad word to say about ANYONE. That's rare. Mark was a wonderful guy. He was caring, certain things I'd written, (and I'm sure this goes for others here also) would get an unsolicited greeting in your email box. There it would be, something that would begin with the "dude4u" prefix of his email address, and you knew it was an E-card. When going to collect your E-card, there it would be, not some just blank canned message chosen by the sender from a list of prewritten ones the site gave the person the option of picking. Mark took the time to write in some caring, genuine message that would do any of the following: Lift up your spirits, offer you condolences, make you laugh, or even just say Hi, sometimes these cards would be sent for no reason at all. But more often then not, they came when you really needed them. I recall well what he'd sent to me when learning of the passing of my grandmother a short while back. Mark Cared, and he was there to offer you someone to listen should you wish to take him up on that offer. We've lost someone who genuinely cared. The humor. I've heard the funniest people are really hurting inside. We had no idea just how hurting Mark must have been inside. His gift of making us laugh even extended to when he decided to tell us what he was going through. There it was, a story of getting CRABS! Who admits to getting crabs?! I felt that was the funniest review of his I had ever read, then things took an enormous turn for the worse. His announcement, and his stating he'd give just about anything to have crabs again rather than what he did. Mark, man, how I wish you were at home or work right now scratching your crotch till you were raw. Mark's effect on me. What did I learn from Mark? He started at this site about a week before I did. I came here for one reason: The Money. Mark did nothing special to sway my feelings about the site, rather, he made me realize it wasn't just reading and rating just to make money. He did this probably unintentionally. I did what I normally did everyday, going about my business clicking on every name that had rated one of my articles and returning the clicks. At one point one of us clicked on the other, I haven't any idea who was first, it doesn't matter. But when I found his writings, I found something that was funny to read, and suddenly, was it money that was first now? No, it was the enjoyment of the site. Mark made Epinions fun. Mark taught me about Comments. Mark had comments, he had TONS of comments. And he answered them. I began to notice that commenting led to a much more fun experience here. Mark commented on many things, It seemed like a cool idea to me. He made people enjoy returning to their comment section to see: Did I get a Hard To Please comment?? And when you did, those were comments you looked forward to. You knew you could answer that comment and maybe even get another one from him back. You had your own little dialogue in the comments, having fun, playing around, all because you wrote about something as mundane as the George Forman Grille. People really liked the Hard To Please comments. How do I know this? Well, for one, I liked mine. Then I saw the effect it had on someone else I'd introduced to this site. (Hint, she's in the picture with me) On July 5, 2000 she wrote a review on what was apparently an awful movie, "Going Overboard". It was then that she had her first Hard To Please comment. Not only was it one comment, he kept coming back and responding to her, they were playful comments, she had commented on one of his reviews, and he even brought up what she wrote. It showed he paid attention. This really pleased that certain someone. She told me excitedly, I got some comments from Hard To Please! I guess that was sort of her standard for having been accepted into an Epinions circle. She loved those comments, here was a stranger, writing to her and complementing her work. Infact, writing : My First Time by Hard_To_Please Maria- I don't think I've uttered these words before, so you may be the first: I just HRd all of your reviews!! ...Mark Re: My First Time by Hard_To_Please p.s. And it had nothing to do with the fantastic Herbal Essence moans you left on my Epinions' Survivor review!...Mark As far as she was concerned, she'd been paid attention to by one of the greatest writers on Epinions. Here's a girl who never thought much about any of her writing, relatively new to the site with all of 4 total epinions, and like a total hit count of 30, It was an honor for her. He really made her day by writing to her. I was honored also both when he decided we needed to have a "drunken write off" and invited me, (who passed out before submitting) and then later when he wrote his review on "Survivor" and ran much cooler than the TV show contest like thing predicting, "Who will be the Epinions Survivor" well, he somehow concluded it would be me. That was pretty much the high point in my Epinions lifetime, it was fun to be recognized by the others you also admire on the site. It was like complete acceptance and approval by one of your peers. Mark showed me what the site was all about. It was about a community, it was helping others, it was making others smile, it was communicating positively amongst each other. Above all, it was about friendship. The site tried to rally around Mark a few short weeks ago, I do hope that these actions brought some happiness to Mark in those months. There is no way what we all did could have brought to Mark the amount of happiness he brought us from the day before Christmas in 1999 when he joined, until the day he could no longer share with us his humor or his caring heart. Mark, I never met you, but you showed me around this site, you introduced me to what it was all about, and someday, if they let lawyers in Heaven, I hope you'll show me around there too.  |
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