Virtual Goodbyes
64
There should be a rule in the virtual world.
Hear ye, all who enter here – leave your emotions behind.
That’s what should be the dividing line
between the real world and cyberspace.
Everything, but feeling.
When you switch off your laptop, you should be able
to switch off that world and it should stop existing.
Till you switch it on again.
How convenient that would be.
If only life were that simple.
The trouble is, emotions have this knack of slipping in from one world to the other through the minutest cracks. The trouble is, niceness has this way of crossing impossible barriers of space to invoke feelings of friendship, maternal instincts, wonder, joy. (A lot of negative feelings, too – but I’ll ignore those here because they don’t apply.)
It takes a special human being to spread his warmth and niceness virtually to so many people. A special brand of Cris Angel who lit up cyber space with his incredible talents but never let it get in the way of his niceness to everyone he met virtually. Encouraging, cajoling, inspiring, he made a difference whenever he could. In some ways, he was like a child. Maybe that’s why his words and pictures were so refreshing, so compelling.
He was always game for any prank – when an imp of mischief bubbled up within me and refused to go away, I became BadHubbit for a while and he was my first fan. What fun we had those days behind the scenes! It warmed the cockles of my old heart! And when I took a little time away from HubPages, Cris and Goldentoad got me back and writing. So many people have similar stories about Cris – he touched so many lives.
Does it matter that most of us who were touched by this angel never met him? Never knew what his voice sounded like? All we can ask is, Why him? So young, his life before him, so full of promise. Such a wonderful human being who lit up our virtual lives and the warm glow in our hearts stayed long after we switched off the virtual world. And sometime tomorrow – maybe it is already Sunday in the Philippines - he’ll be laid to rest and all we’ll have are the memories.
So many of us will miss him. His comments, his emails, his FaceBook postings. His wonderful Photoshopped avatars that he so generously created for us. His encouragement, his inspiration, his warmth.
If only there were no emotions in the virtual world when we have to say Goodbye. Unfortunately, the tears aren’t virtual, they’re very real.
RIP Cris. And if there is a hereafter, I’m sure you’ll be up there in the heavens, painting the sky bluer, those rainbows brighter. God Bless.
You can read Cris A's hubs here.
And his poetry blog here.
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He was so special, wasn't he?
Beautiful Shalini..for Cris! Yes,he was so very special and I loved his banters.He touched our lives in so many ways.Words cannot express our sorrow,we love you Cris ..Rest in peace.
It's 10:00 AM here in the Philippines. Cris will be laid in his final resting place. I wish we could all go there. I didn't cry when Ernesthub died but I shed tears when Cris died. Even now, I can still feel myself tearing up. He will be missed, this person who touched all of our hearts.
Shal, you've expressed beautifully what many will find hard to...
I am so sorry for your loss. I did not interact with Cris, but will visit his site to honor his memory. Hugs.
Shalini Kagal. Thank you, now it is all I can do.
Tonight when I was walking out of the grocery store into the amazing twilight of a dark blue, translucent sky, I was overwhelmed with the beauty. I kept looking up while walking to my car and noticed a glimmering star ~ I thought of Cris and how his light will never dim. His light shines on for us.
Thanks for writing such a beautiful tribute to a young man we all love and never met face to face.
Thanks all for reading. Here's to Cris - may his magic live on!
So sorry to hear about another hubber passing away.
Very sad to hear about him Shalini. Wish i had known and interacted with him. But will def read his hubs.
Thanks for this beautiful tribute to Cris. So sad to hear the news.
HP may dwell in a realm of its own, but it does allow us to keep that cyber part of our selves alive for future generations.
Yes, quicksand and billy - so sad!
And GL - I agree - I hope his art and poetry live on for posterity.
He was as special as you say, and more.... A wonderful tribute for a wonderful man. I saw your interaction often. He somehow made us all feel special..... Brenda Scully....
True Brenda - he had that special gift!
Beautiful, and yes, so true. My feelings of friendship for Cris were very real. I spent all of yesterday (when I found out) between tears and numbness.
A shining star has been snuffed out way too early.
Hi AW - I know how well the two of you connected. I agree - a star has indeed been snuffed out :(
Shalini - your hub really touched me. I wish I got to know Cris A as well. RIP Cris. Thank you for writing a wonderful tribute. I have choose to put this as one of my favorite hubs for the week of Feb 5th. Thank you.
Hi tarajeyaram - yes, Cris A was a very special hubber!
hi do you think it is possible to find the poem we all wrote together in forums even though it was 3 years ago, i would love to read it again....
Some people just seem to make the world a better place.
True Dim! Thanks as always for coming by and reading!
This is news that's hard to believe. Chris was often the first to comment on one of my relatively obscure hubs, and he never repeated himself in his comments... very honest and insightful. I wish these comments about his comments could be as interesting as his comments were. I was always amazed at the rare combination of quantity AND quality of work and thought he put into his hubs, comments, poetry, and visual art. I had been hoping to see a renewed surge of activity here from Chris, before hearing this sad news. Well, he certainly made the most of his time here. I think he is keeping things lively in a better world now.
A beautiful Tribute Shalini. Even for those of us who didn't quite know him as well, it is a sad loss to the hubpages. such talent, passion and endearing grace will always be remembered. Thanks for sharing these thoughts.
Hi watcher by night - yes, it's still so hard to believe. It's sad when he had just got back to HP after a break that this had to happen. Maybe in some way, he knew :(
Hi Docmo - yes, it is. Thanks for coming by!
VioletSun Level 5 Commenter 3 months ago
Aaaaw, this made my eyes wet, thinking of Cris painting the skies bluer and making the rainbows brighter, so beautifully said.
There are people who say online friendships are not "real", but that's not true. I tend to think that sometimes we are even more "real" as we get to share our core, our heart and souls without inhibitions through the power of the written word.
And yes, the tears where not virtual - very real, for a real brother who left us too soon.