Beijing time, January 12 — Aaron Swartz, co-founder of Reddit, co-creator of the RSS specification, founder of web.py, and a renowned computer hacker, died by suicide in New York on the morning of January 11 local time. He was 26 years old. Swartz's uncle has confirmed the news to The Tech.
One news report set the whole world ablaze, and a crowd gathered around to gawk: "Oh dear, he really wasn't mentally tough enough," "What hurdle could possibly be insurmountable?" "He had the talent, but his psychological fortitude just didn't measure up."
Aaron — a young hacker, only 26 — had already contributed more to this world than most people achieve in an entire lifetime. And those onlookers — mocking? Lecturing? Why don't they take a good look at themselves?
The meaning of life lies in changing the world, in leaving it a better place because you existed.
I have always believed that whether one chooses astronomy, geography, physics, chemistry, biology, or the computer science I love, everyone once harbored the dream of making their world a better place. But after years slip by and they look back, do they still remember those pure dreams?
The word "lifetime" sounds big, as if it weighs a thousand pounds, but that's merely one's own imagination. In reality it's only a few decades — before long, the body loses its function, gets carted off, cut open, doused in gasoline, and burned to ashes in a single fire. In this fleeting time, all we can do is think carefully about our dreams and pursue what we pursue. Even if we end up accomplishing nothing, at death we will only regret our own lack of talent, not waste away in futile, useless remorse.
So in my view, Aaron at least succeeded in realizing part of his dreams. Even his death was of his own choosing — self-destruction for a goal he could not otherwise reach. From this perspective, I can only envy his achievements and respect his choice.
Farewell, Aaron.
PS:
Seeing how every garbage site on the search engines suddenly pops up an Aaron, just to show it exists, I can't help but grieve for him.
While he was alive, the freedom he pursued was already beyond his grasp. After his death, his rotting corpse continues to be sucked dry by flies and mosquitoes.
And yet — isn't this very post of mine much the same?
Comments · 1