Sunday, June 30, 2013

Death And Facebook /21st Century Eulogies

 
The following is an insightful article written by reporter noting change in America change is occurring; pushed mainly through continued development via technology.  I remain Justin's loving momma

Facebook hosts electronic eulogies from the friends and acquaintances of Justin DeSha-Overcash

REPOST~ Posted on facebook page by Karen DeSha (Notes) on Wednesday, September 28, 2011 at 4:38pm
  • By Rich Abdill
  • April 7, 2011
Death And Facebook
Facebook hosts electronic eulogies from the friends and acquaintances of Justin DeSha-Overcash

I've been thinking a lot lately about Justin DeSha-Overcash. Drug dealer or not, he certainly didn't deserve to die in his basement over some money and weed. With all the news flying around about two men being arrested in connection with his murder, I've been rooting around the Internet for info, and the first thing I found was on what appears to be the Facebook account of Stephan Weaver, the man accused of being the getaway driver.
The murder happened in the afternoon of January 11. Just after 6 p.m. that day, Weaver changed his status to "PG county is way to crazy for me." Well, now we know we can blame geography for the senseless killing of a college student.
The only other bit of revealing information on his page is a change of relationship status on March 24: He listed himself as "in a relationship" with a young woman from Baltimore who surprisingly no longer lists him as her boyfriend.
But then I wandered over to Overcash's page, and came face-to-face with mourning in the 21st century.
The day of the murder, Overcash posted a link to a music video at 11:12 a.m. Less than five hours later, a woman posted only "It better not be true..." Then at 5:30, someone else said "Dude I need to hear from you." To his Facebook friends, Overcash wasn't dead yet.
Twenty minutes later, the first RIP message appeared — "I love you man, RIP." As if he'd be logging on from elsewhere and get the message.
Lots of people felt that way — 102 messages were posted on his wall before midnight. Some were simple — "Rest In Peace Justin" and "You will be missed. Rest in peace buddy." Others were songs, others were just simple memories, woven together into a patchwork obituary for a friend.
The posts rolled in over the next few days — Overcash started appearing in profile pictures, in other people's status updates. And the wall posts continued, some from close friends, but many from people who hadn't spoken to him in years. Others got very personal:
  • "It has taken me a bit of time to write here. I just went to temple for the first time in a while and prayed for you."
And then, last Thursday, the tone of the posts changed. They all had a message similar to one posted by a Maryland alum:
"Rest easy Justin DeSha-Overcash. They got 'em."
Has the Internet changed the way we deal with life and death?

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