I have a few comments that I would like to discuss after reading Davts post.
First off, keeping Pat alive in our souls is keeping the Lugnut in each of us active in our lives. Dav, you did this on your walk, and you came home alive. What this experience has taught us is to be honest, open and loving of strangers. These strangers become friends as soon as we extend our hand to them,
We have all shared an experience here, and it has been good. The experience appears to outsiders as death, this is what we see in the obituary, but we have learned this experience is in actuality life. Our time on earth is ours to share in any way we wish, this group at Audiogon have learned to share life as love and honesty. From this experience we hopefully have changed our perspective. That is the Lugnut legacy, and for me what I carry away from this and some other experiences Ive had in my life is we are in this together, and every one of us needs the love of others to have the most fulfilling experience possible. Imagine how sad and lonely Pats death would have been without this community. Now put yourself in Pats place, will you be alone or will you have love surrounding you at your passing?
We need each other, not just when we a sick, but every day. Pat had wished for this thread to continue because he was the benefactor of the love shared. But really, werent we all the benefactors? My life was forever altered when I had my heart attack, and I have found the community expressed here ar Audiogon in my life outside Audiogon. I have been able to share my lessons with many people, I even wrote a book (not published
yet) to help others learn. I try and live Lugnuts lessons with every person I meet. My comment is to keep Pat alive we must expand the affected group beyond just Audiogon. If we do not, then the lesson will slowly fade into history, and nothing we have learned will have been carried forward into our futures. This is not acceptable in my view.
We are the luckiest people ever, we were allowed to share the hardest part of life and we grew. Pat will live as he lived today on Davs walk. If we want to memorialize Pat and Barbs gift to us than all we need to do is love everyone you meet. Share random acts of kindness everyday. (I can not express how powerful random acts of kindness are.) Love will spawn love in the same fashion hate spawns hate. But love trumps hate every time, hate will fail to exist if we all love one another. We were created to share this experience together and to help one another everyday. Help is not one day or one thread at an audio web site. Help is loving everyone we meet, and extend our souls to another.
For the moment that is enough from me. I have set-up my Empire turntable from 1972 with the AI preamp Pat gave to me, and yes Neil Young (70s style) will play tomorrow afternoon, despite a frozen cartridge that sounds like $#&^.
God bless you all, I have grown to love so many of you through this incredible thread.
I love you Pat.