083: Memorial service for Avacar Bluestar

Avacar Bluestar died on November 14 from a heart condition. I wasn't fortunate enough to know him personally so, when I heard about his memorial service, I figured space would be at a premium and it would be more useful to drop in and pay my respects informally; I'd heard that after half-an-hour of encomonium, there would be a kind of dance or get-together. I figured I could slip in, say hi to

a few friends, sign whatever was there as a guest book and make my way back to my day.
     Well, an hour in, there were still people talking about Avacar's good qualities to a very, very large audience. The details of the memorial service have been covered by other bloggers, some of whom knew him as a close friend. Ryce Skytower (aka Eddi Haskell), a close

friend of Avacar, delivered some powerful remarks that can be found here. Bock McMillan's comments are here and NakedCarl quotes Ryce in his blog found here. Ziggy Starsmith's comments are here.
     The thing that was most extraordinary about this event for me was the sheer number of people who were present. Bock McMillan counted 101 residents on

the sim at one point; that seems in the right range of numbers to me, although I didn't know it was even possible to have that many people in one place in SL. The sim was so overloaded that people were popping in and out; as one crashed another would take his place immediately. There's a screen cap that Ryce captured that shows all the residents with their names over their heads that's also represented in Bock's blog; you should definitely look at it, I've never seen anything like it. I can't tell you how powerful it was to actually be there and to see that huge sea of floating names bobbing and moving like the ocean.
     My screen was so filled with names that it was all I could do to pick out a few green ones representing friends, but I didn't get a chance to say hello (I crashed twice myself). As I said, Ryce Skytower was there, and fellow blogger Ziggy Starsmith; Bock McMillan, Tomais Ashdene and Guyke Lundquist; Ezzie Mirabella, the new Board Chair of Second Pride; Crito Galtier from Terra Lascivus; Kahvy Sands and Garrett Smith; and a lady who's a mainstay of the LGBT community in SL, Kharissa Indigo. But there were so many people there, I'm sure I missed some friends and I definitely missed the great speeches. I only managed a few photographs and crashed twice before I decided to leave the service and yield my space to one of Avacar's many personal friends.
     My takeaway is that I've realized once again that it's possible to develop friendships and working relationships in Second Life that are strong and powerful and long-lasting -- and real. It's also possible to develop those friendships by working hard for the benefit of the community, and following the Golden Rule. The respect that Avacar Bluestar engendered in his lifetime, and the memories of him that huge numbers of residents have, will last until the death of the last person who knew him personally, and perhaps even beyond.
     My sympathies in this time to his partner Ricogenu. Let's remember Avacar Bluestar as a fine example of the way people can work for the betterment of others in Second Life.