Over 10 million people have shared their knowledge on Answers.com.  There’s something magical about typing your thoughts on your keyboard and knowing that they will become part of a permanent information resource that is consulted by millions every day and can benefit generations to come.  As contributors we know we are making a difference when we receive messages of thanks from readers on our message boards.   But one of the top WikiGuides, “Worldwide520,” put things in perspective with a poem about the following encounter he had with a reader of his answer.

Why we Wiki, by Worldwide520

 

A girl just lost her sister,

She had taken her own life.

I don’t know quite how,

I have no idea why,

But this random event

Just changed my life.

One normal day

I was browsing the site

Our amazing Answers.com,

The greatest place on the Web.

I was perusing the boards

And making some merges,

Reorganizing questions

And adding some answers,

Then a few key words did catch my eye

Of a particular question

That I happened to find.

I first thought it ought to be trashed,

But with requisite care

I was not so rash.

Essentially, the question asked:

My sister just leapt from a window high,

How did it end, her precious life?

Using my knowledge of anatomy,

I gave a straight answer,

Though it was hard for me.

For kin of my own

Have encountered death

So I sympathized with this child,

Though we had not met.

The question was touching,

In a unique way,

For she came to us,

To soothe her pain.

When I said the end

Had likely come quick

I received a message

That I did not expect.

The girl was relieved

That her sister

Had not known suffering in the end,

And I was touched,

For look at what I did.

A solemn answer was refuge

To a grieving young girl

Who’d just lost her sibling,

Her closest friend in the world.

And people will often ask

Why we’re so dedicated to our site,

They’ll ask,

What’s the value?

Why do you waste your time?

It may seem insignificant,

Like a trivial little story,

But times like those

Remind me why I contribute.

We believe in knowledge,

And its availability to all;

We love cooperation,

Diversity makes us whole;

This is why I Wiki,

This is who we are.

[If you would like your original poetry profiled on this blog, please e-mail it to poetry @ wikianswers.com (no spaces) and include your Answers.com username!]