Tonight's candlelight vigil held for Megan Meier in the town where she died, is to honor her memory after her story became known nationwide.
The vigil's announcement was received by us and was held for a few hours while we tried to authenticate it. It was signed "A message from Tina Meier, Megan's mom". After several hours, we decided to publish it.
The message was as follows:
The message ends on a hopeful note and there's a wish we'd like to make: that many people will show up to honor Megan.
This is Megan's mom, Tina Meier, and I wanted to update everyone on the details for the candlelight vigil for Saturday, November 24, 2007.
*We are meeting at 6:00 p.m. at the Fort Zumwalt West Middle school parking lot.
*Please bring a candle, cup to hold the candle and something to light the candle. (If you cut a small X in the bottom of the cup, you can slide the candle through it and then you won't have wax dripping on you)
*We will then light the candle's shortly after 6:00 p.m. and start walking from the school down Waterford crystal drive towards Megan's house and end up in front of the Drew's house.
*There is a common ground area across the street and we will have pa system and microphone. if anyone would like to speak, read a poem, etc., they are more than welcome.
*This wonderful idea came from students who wanted to see justice for Megan and for that we are so happy. Nothing we can do will bring Megan back, but we can all learn from Megan and take a part of her with us everyday for the rest of our lives to try to be a better person and think about things we say to people before we say them!
*****Remember this is a peaceful candlelight vigil******
We hope to see everyone there!
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By now, many are familiar with the story of Megan's bouts of depression, her online harassment--after meeting and later being rejected--by a boy she knew as Josh Evans at Internet social site, MySpace.
Her suicide, the result of vicious comments posted by Josh and his friends, drove her to take her life. The discovery six weeks after her death, by her parents, that Josh was the creation of a neighbor, Lori Drew, shocked readers.
Explored were the reasons and motives of an adult stalking a 13-year-old for six weeks online, the outrage by both the mainstream press, Internet bloggers and the reading public.
Controversy arose concerning the question of whether or not Drew's name should have been released in the original story by Suburban Journals reporter Steve Pokin.
Hours were spent last weekend as editorials squared off in a New Media-Old Media shouting match. In the end, the name of Lori Drew and her accomplice were released online; gathered momentum and finally released in the mainstream press.
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This candlelight vigil, announced last night, is the latest chapter in a story which had many sad twists.
The vigil is a fitting way to honor Megan Meier, a girl who never had the chance to realize the fullness of life. It is a much better way to remember her than all of the words flung back and forth during the controversy that swirled around her name.
She died after a hoax, concocted by adults for unfathomable reasons.
The fact that she was a 13-year-old girl may have been obscured for awhile by those who wrote about her; it's doubtful that that fact was ever far from her parents' mind during the last 13 months.
After everything: she was still a 13-year-old girl who liked to chat with boys, worried about her weight and got excited when she got a message online from someone she liked.
She was still the 13-year-old daughter of Ron and Tina Meier.
Hopefully, the vigil will remind people that after the shocking story was told and the reactions died down, that this was still the story of Megan Meier: neighbor, friend, schoolmate, daughter.
Last weekend around the country, whether at home or on the Internet, people gathered to discuss the story they were discovering: the story of Megan Meier.
Tonight, friends and neighbors and perhaps, a few strangers, will gather together for a reflective walk with a candle. They will say a few words; perhaps someone will read a poem, and tears will be shed.
Tonight people who knew her will gather together:
To say one more prayer for Megan Meier.
by Mondoreb
Death by 1000 Papercuts Front Page.
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