I made no connection when I briefly saw the news. Her post and the attitude of giving meaning to a senseless loss (isn't death always senseless?) is moving. There are many lessons she learned that are useful to us all. Everyone loses loved ones. From old age, from accidents, from completely unexpected events. In the end, all that matters is what we, the people who stay alive, do out of it.
When people think that any passage of any length that mentions religion, however briefly, is a "religious spiel," I find it just as baffling as folks who insist that anything anyone does must include a prayer.
A little bit of research would uncover that, in the tech startup worldwide community, Dave Goldberg was one of the most loved entrepreneurs.
The fact that he was Sheryl Sandberg's husband (and the very fact the he was proud to be described as such) is what put him on the front of the BBC.
Hacker News is first-and-foremost a forum of that tech startup community. I'm not one, but many people who frequent here will have known and looked up to if not one then both of the people mentioned here.
It might have been nice to have considered them before reacting like this to the death of their friend.
I'm British reading from the UK. He died weeks ago.
However, it wouldn't take much reading to realise that a) this wasn't just some dude who died and b) this isn't just some wifey who is talking about her grief.
My wife was a palliative care nurse. She taught me that everyone is remarkable but when it comes to dying, for one person to be valued higher than another based on social standing, celebrity status or perceived societal worth.
@wumbernang these are people who are a part of the larger community who built HN. When the US wakes up you will see that many of the people who come here know them personally (especially those who built and run HN).
Coming from the UK, this made no sense whatsoever to me.