I found out that one of my Grand-Aunts died earlier this week. It would have been more of a big deal, except that the last (and only) time I’ve met her was a good ten years ago. My fondest memory of her was from when I was younger. She would send along a cheque every year around Chinese New Year. It was a token amount, maybe something like $20 but it was in US currency and so my dad had to cash it for me; although for a kid, $20 is a lot of money! I guess I don’t feel as sad about her death as I do remorse in that I was always on the receiving end of the relationship. In fact, I don’t know much of anything about my Grand Aunt aside from her familial relation to me and where she lived. It wasn’t really a relationship was it?

I think the Internet has changed death. When an internet-enabled person dies, they now also suffer an internet death. I was reading the UW Bulletin earlier last week and found out that a fourth-year electrical engineer died on her workterm in Kingston. The news was purposely vague as to the details and I was curious as to what happened. I looked up her class’ website from EngSoc but their wiki hadn’t been updated for a year. On a whim, I looked her up on facebook and found her profile. Her friends, having heard the news had already begun converting her profile into a memorial of her life by posting their cherished memories and best wishes to her family. Her wall would be viewable to the public (well at least the Waterloo network) forever, but she would never be able to add anyone else as a friend.

Another example is the recent death of James Kim, the CNet editor whose family got lost in the Oregon wilderness over American Thanksgiving. Having driven through southern Oregon, I can imagine how rural and sparse that state is, and that was in the summer. During the time that Kim and his family were missing, I must have come across 3 or 4 stories a day on Digg’s frontpage that gave updates or talked about their disappearance. It is a sad story, but to me he was just some random individual. Yet, the internet was able to document his death and spread the news far and wide as if it was the Pope or Princesses Diana that died.

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