For Love of a Thing
Daniel Fleetwood, the terminally ill Star Wars fan of recent social media fame, got his wish to see an unfinished cut of Star Wars: The Force Awakens. As a bonus he was inducted into the the 501st Stormtrooper unit as an honorary member on November 7th. Today he died at age 32. It’s as though he was hanging on just to see the movie and having done so could pass away contently. It’s a touching story about the passion of a geek and the solidarity of the geek community. It’s also one of those moments that triggered deep introspection.
If you’ve hung around my site for any period of time, you’ve noticed my prevailing skepticism and probably assumed that in reality I’m basically Comic Book Guy from The Simpsons. And minus the obesity and a catchphrase, you’re probably right. I spend a lot of time being cynical. In general I’m a glass half-empty kind of guy. It is a chore to see the good in things for me. My mom passing a few years back made matters worse and sent me into a really dark place I’ve been clawing my way out from since.
This year I made it my goal to be a more positive person. It is a constant and conscious effort. It’s so easy for me to see the bad in things. Daniel’s story really resonated with me. It might seem disingenuous to refer to my depression (and potential budding alcohol problem) as a struggle in the same story I mention Daniel in. I’m not fighting off spindle cell sarcoma – a particularly aggressive and rare form of lung cancer – like he was. And that’s the eye-opener. I’m not dying or debilitated. I’m just kinda miserable.
Let’s step away from myself a moment…
Geeks are a group of people defined by their love. Whether it’s a love of Star Wars or Pokemon or Halo, we geeks are united by our uncommon love of a thing. Geeks can’t help getting excited with their obsession and “geek out” even around strangers. Daniel Fleetwood loved Star Wars in that uncommon way that makes a geek a geek. I think that maybe he loved Star Wars differently than other geeks even. How many people would be so happy with something so simple?
I’d posit not many. On the contrary, I think geeks are becoming an angrier, less contented lot. We hype something and look forward to it so much and in the end create such an inflated ideal that the thing can’t possibly meet our expectations. For proof look no further than Avengers: Age of Ultron or Jurassic World or some of the negative social media rants I’ve been seeing these last couple days about Fallout 4 already. Rather than the phrase “well it wasn’t as good as the first” I think we should maybe be just a bit happier we got to see that world one more time.
Being a geek isn’t a burden. We have amazing worlds and settings to explore and experience. Awesome characters we know in and out like they’re living breathing people. We make friends out of our mutual uncommon love of those characters and worlds. That’s pretty remarkable if you stop and think about it.
I want to look forward to things a bit more and criticize them a bit less. Reviews aside – there’s a place for my analytical brain to caution purchases and provide consumer feedback. Personally though I need to just be happy I’m a geek for one more year experiencing geek things. I think all geeks need to fight their inner Jeff Albertson and embrace their inner Daniel Fleetwood. Love geek things more. Hate other types of geek less. Maybe we need to remember that someone out there loves their geek thing enough to live for it and die happy having seen it.
When the next Star Wars movie comes out there will be social media comments nitpicking it apart. Witnessing Daniel’s campaign and the Star Wars (and greater geek) community rally behind him, I’d like to suggest something different for the future. Maybe, my fellow geeks, we can cut Star Wars: The Force Awakens a break for Daniel’s sake – provided there’s no Jar Jar equivalent; ire deserved there. Maybe we can relish our love of things a little more for the sake of any nerd that ever loved something so much they held on just a bit longer and got a few moments more with their loved ones because of it.
My condolences to Ashley Fleetwood and family. It was not my intent to exploit your loss with my article but to let you know that it made a difference.
#ForceForDaniel