Taking Stock in Second Life

 

When life gives you a hundred reasons to cry, show life that you have a thousand reasons to smile.

Anonymous

                                                                

 

          The recent events in my Real Life (RL) have caused me to pause for a moment and think.  (Normally, this is where Significant Other’s eyes roll or an excuse is found to beat a hasty retreat somewhere, anywhere.  Today, because Significant Other has been a major part of what’s been happening, not to mention a source of strength and comfort for me, I see support and affirmation.)

          I thought about my loss.

          I thought about all who have helped me in both RL and Second Life (SL).  (All of you who reached out via various media when I missed a blog post and stopped tweeting for a while, you’ll never know how much that meant to me.)         

          Previously, I’ve blogged about how quiet SL was.  How there seemed to be less going on. 

          But, but after writing that, I began to notice that while maybe at the galactic level, SL wasn’t as bombastic as it once was that at the personal level (i.e., avatar to avatar) there was always a lot going on. 

          Whenever, I logged on friends were around.  They reached out.

          If they weren’t around then they left messages.

          Sometimes, friends just disappeared with no warning.  Their loss is felt and I can only hope that RL offered them new challenges and opportunities and they’ve just moved on with their lives.

         

Combined with the outpouring of prayers, condolences, and well wishes that I’ve recently received made me realize just how noisy in the very best sense of the word that SL really is.

          All the other things that have been happening around and about SL are really pretty irrelevant. 

          Should we care about SL 2.0? 

          Does Ebbe Altberg really matter in the grand scheme of things? 

          Is it important if RL media is suddenly surprised that SL still exists at all?            For me the answer is a resounding “No!”

          SL is a very complicated place and it’s complicated because it’s about people.

          SL happens at a very personal and intimate (That’s not what I mean!) level.  Individuals communicating with one another and with their communities.

          People share thoughts, feelings, and fears inworld. 

          Yes, there is the veil of anonymity for many of us but that doesn’t make it any less personal.

          Are our SL friends any less real to us than our RL ones?

          Once again, the answer is a resounding “No!”

          After all these years of being inworld and blogging about it, I’m just now realizing that the community there is SL is more than just scripts, prims, and sims. 

          It’s all about the wonderful people who make it up and log in every so often to make it the wonderful place that it is!

As always, I’m grateful to all inworld for their kindness and time in stopping to talk with a stranger who was passing through their lives.         

My Twitter handle is @webspelunker.  Please feel free to follow me and I’d be happy to follow you.

I can be found on Google+ as webspelunker Ghostraven.

My flickr Photostream is located here.

On Skype I’m webspelunker Ghostraven.

I welcome feedback from readers, please either comment on my blog or e-mail me at webspelunker@gmail.com . 

          If you would like to read about my other adventures in Second Life please click here.

          Open roads and kind fires!