With sadness I pass on the following news. On 21 September 2011, Brendan known to many here as Bear, passed away. He was a kind and thoughtful person who deeply cared about doing the right thing for our community. He will be missed.
He asked that the following message included when I wrote this post. Brendan writes:
Some of you will know me, many of you will not. But I feel like I know each and every single one of you, and I feel so happy that I got the opportunity to help and serve this community. To me, it doesn't matter who you are, what your beliefs are, where you come from. You all deserve the same level of respect and dignity, because we are all people. If there is one thing in my life that I have learnt, it's to be grateful for everyday that we can wake up and walk outside into the world. To see the wonder and the beauty of it all, to see the people, the individuals. I have noticed over time that there is a lot of hatred in the world, towards people, towards places. I learnt the hard way that there's is simply no point in the hatred anymore. We live, we die, and in the end nothing we did matters anymore. Why should we all fight one another all over the world, when in the end, we won't live forever to enjoy what little peace we may gain from the fighting. It's just as simple to fight one another, as it is to accept those other people. I guess what I'm trying to say amongst the confusion of my thoughts is this, as a race, we are all equal. Why hate, why fight, when every individual on this planet could benefit from the friendly nature of each other person.
Community members, it has been a pleasure watching this place over the years. I only hope that I have helped in some way. To the people that I got close to throughout my time here, I thank you for all of those good times. You all know who you are. Finally, I would like to share a quote with you that I feel, really sums up everything that I wrote above. 'It means nothing to love, but to feel it is the greatest gift of all', Thank you again for the good times, I wish you all the very best for the future.
I want to add that he felt that he was unable to fully contribute to the admin team due to his illness and so resigned nearly a near ago. I agreed not to post why he had resigned until now. I feel it is important to say this to clear up any confusion about why he appeared to fade away without mention.
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