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Thanks for all the fish.HBO received this letter from a fan at a time when a reminder of why we do what we do was sorely needed - I was so touched I wanted to share. Reproduced here with permission. Date: Mon, 29 Jul 2013 00:38:40 +0800 Subject: Thanks for all the fish. From: "Jon" <some_email_address@gmail.com> To: Louis Wu <lwu@bungie.org> This is a thank you letter. I've been reading HBO for maybe 9 years now, close to 10 years. I'm 21 now, so that makes for almost half my life. HBO demonstrated to me that there were communities of good people out there on the internet, who would band together to help other people at the drop of a hat. I probably wouldn't have gotten into a good college in the United States doing Aerospace Engineering if it wasn't for HBO. HBO introduced me to the joys of physics, hard science fiction and really awful puns (I'm looking at you, Stuntmutt). And it showed me how people could achieve really crazy things when they put their minds to it and put in the effort (warthog jumps still blow my mind). HBO got me through some really rough times. When the world was tough, and the people I cared about were dying and/or in non-recoverable comas, and it seemed like there was nothing good living for - I'd look at the front page of HBO, and there'd always be an account of some charity event the fans had thrown together, or a crazy conspiracy theory thrown together by Jillybean, or even a Stuntmutt strip. I went to HBO because the front page of HBO was never cynical, never nasty, always quick to remind us that those were other people behind the screen we were interacting with. When life gives you plasma grenades, make warthog jumping videos. When somebody gets angry with you and shouts at you online or in real life, don't retaliate - there's probably a reason they're that angry, and you won't make it better by answering in kind. When everything sucks, know that someone else's life probably sucks more, and go and help them out. If you can spend money on videogames, you can probably spare a little for other people - give generously to charity and to others, with both your time and your resources. It sucks that I learned all this from a single website, but it's true - HBO taught me how to be a better person. I don't play Halo anymore. Over the last few months, I've been checking HBO's front page less and less - life is getting busier, Stuntmutt isn't there anymore, and I've moved onto other things in life, as we all do. But the lessons HBO has taught me will stay with me for as long as I live, and I will never forget where it all came from. Thanks Louis Wu, Jonathan ( just another Halo fan) |
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