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> Big Al (fact: he wasn’t big) was the most punctual and reliable of NR workers > Why in God’s name did he come in to the offices of National Review this day?

> Big Al (fact: he wasn’t big) was the most punctual and reliable of NR workers > Why in God’s name did he come in to the offices of National Review this day? To me it is obvious. Alone in the world except for a loving sister, who lived far away, Alex Batey knew that he had arrived at the hour that will arrive for all of us. But he didn’t want to die alone. And he didn’t. Can't say if that's accurate or not but it feels fishy that the interpretation is that Alex was ready to die and wanted to spend it with co-workers, coming from another coworker.

Joe-Z 9y ago
Have you read the text at all? Sorry to be that guy, but clearly 'big Al' was the office loner (not to say loser) who nobody can really hold anything against but at the same time everybody's happy when you don't have to interact too much with him. Sister living far away and nobody else besides co-workers in his life he may have hoped that someday somebody would walk up to him and ask what's going on, reach out and offer help. But hey! that was our funny, kinda awkward 'big Al', what can you do about it? Fuck, this story made me so sad!
- chillacy 9y ago
  Yes I did read the text. But these aren't Al's words, these are a co-workers words, and we have to interpret them through his point of view. That's why I said it's fishy. Also, > Please don't insinuate that someone hasn't read an article. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
  - Joe-Z 9y ago
    I know and I normally don't do this, so please forgive my rather emotional response. But this obituary made me kind of angry. To comment on your original point: I really think there's nothing fishy about it. He probably really wanted to be there, because his co-workers were the only other people in his life. I think the author was spot-on with his analysis, but just left it at that and some 'playful' anecdotes about his co-workers 'quirks' without questioning if maybe there's something to be learned from this, what I would call tragic and lonely death.
  - dang 9y ago
    The reason it isn't fishy is that the author makes it clear that it's just his subjective view ("to me"). This is an elegy, and he's right to be elegaic. (Thanks for knowing the site guidelines btw...)

Joe-Z 9y ago

Have you read the text at all? Sorry to be that guy, but clearly 'big Al' was the office loner (not to say loser) who nobody can really hold anything against but at the same time everybody's happy when you don't have to interact too much with him. Sister living far away and nobody else besides co-workers in his life he may have hoped that someday somebody would walk up to him and ask what's going on, reach out and offer help. But hey! that was our funny, kinda awkward 'big Al', what can you do about it? Fuck, this story made me so sad!

chillacy 9y ago
Yes I did read the text. But these aren't Al's words, these are a co-workers words, and we have to interpret them through his point of view. That's why I said it's fishy. Also, > Please don't insinuate that someone hasn't read an article. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
- Joe-Z 9y ago
  I know and I normally don't do this, so please forgive my rather emotional response. But this obituary made me kind of angry. To comment on your original point: I really think there's nothing fishy about it. He probably really wanted to be there, because his co-workers were the only other people in his life. I think the author was spot-on with his analysis, but just left it at that and some 'playful' anecdotes about his co-workers 'quirks' without questioning if maybe there's something to be learned from this, what I would call tragic and lonely death.
- dang 9y ago
  The reason it isn't fishy is that the author makes it clear that it's just his subjective view ("to me"). This is an elegy, and he's right to be elegaic. (Thanks for knowing the site guidelines btw...)