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Message: <blockquote data-quote="pawsplay" data-source="post: 4098921" data-attributes="member: 15538">Isn't life a little sorrowful? I think the poem is about meaning, not responses. Of course we feel sadness at passing and joy at new life. We also feel enjoyment from a good meal and discomfort from starvation. But I know life, death, sustenance, and discomfort are all part of our existence. Philosophically, I accept death, even welcome it when it comes in a time amicable to me. I love life, but also recognize that to live is to strive, and to strive, you must suffer.EGG's passing was significant to me, not the least because it reminded me that our time here is limited. People die all the time, but EGG has a special connection to some time and events in my life, although I did not know him personally. Thus for me it is proper to grieve. Am I very sad? No, not really. I grieve in the spirit of gratitude. I am sad knowing he is gone, but likewise, happy that he lived.I learned to play with the red box D&D set, and I was never completely happy with AD&D. I switched to other game systems almost entirely by the time I was 12 or so. I did not return to D&D with interest until 3rd edition. Nonetheless, I recognize a chain of events in which EGG mattered. Although I moved on, what he and others wrought in those early days was amazing and new. It is easy to bag on innovators and to look back on pioneers with scorn; we have the benefit of hindsight. I am aware always of the connections between things. Ultimately, millions of people worldwide benefit from the discoveries of Gygax, Arneson, and the rest. Many of those people would not even recognize Gygax's name. Apart from creating the FRPG industry, Gygax was also important because he was of a generation who were familiar with swords-and-fantasy, existing in competition and in parallel to Hobbit and LOTR. The popularity of D&D is a link to the roots of modern S&S, Leiber, Vance, Anderson, Howard, etc. That is an important trove of culture. So I am grateful Gygax had that interest.</blockquote>

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