Mar 19 2008
Little bursts of happiness
Much of my daily reading on the interweb comes from news aggregators. I particularly like those with a sense of humor, such as Fark. That sense of humor, however, doesn’t mean that the news isn’t serious. Sometimes it’s funny, sometimes it’s tragic. Sometimes it’s important, sometimes it’s personal.
The other day, this story floated across the wire. It described Charles Whiting, who lost his wife in 2005 to cancer and emphysema. One thing that comforted him was the voice mail greeting his wife had recorded with their Verizon phone service some years earlier. The message remained long after she was gone, and Charles would call it daily to hear her voice once more.
Recently, system upgrades replaced the equipment which provided Whiting’s voice mail service, and the greeting was lost. Calls to Verizon informed him the previous greeting recordings were lost for good. It was sad, and a reminder that the world is always changing and someday the things we rely on most will inevitably disappear.
At least, that’s what I thought when I saw it. Today, a follow-up article showed up on the AP wire. From the article: Company spokesman John Bonomo said Tuesday that a contractor found the recording and restored it to the new voicemail system.
“I’m glad they rescued it,” Whiting said. “I’m very happy.”
Another reminder: There’s always some good in everyone’s heart. Let it out whenever you can.
