Dead Pixels and The Stages of Grief

• The first stage is denial
  Upon discovering the dead pixel, the CinemaDisplay owner reacts with a shocked, "No, not my CinemaDisplay." According to Dr.Kubler-Ross, this is a healthy stage (as long as the CinemaDisplay owner doesn't wipe, scrape, squeegee, or otherwise smush the dead pixel too hard and in the process make matters much worse), and permits the CinemaDisplay owner to develop other defenses.

• Next comes anger or resentment
  "Why me?" is the question asked now. "Why my CinemaDisplay?" Blame, directed against the CinemaDisplay's Taiwanese LCD manufacturer, against Apple for contracting with such a manufacturer, against Steve Jobs just on general principles, against FedEx for probably dropping the box during transport . . . all of these are often part of this stage. This outcry should be accepted, unjudged.

• The third stage is bargaining
  "Ok, my CinemaDisplay, but-" . . . "Maybe I can sell it on eBay and the buyer won't notice . . ." This Dr. Kubler-Ross calls a period of temporary truce.

• The fourth stage is depression
  Now the CinemaDisplay owner is faced with the reality that the dead pixel is staring back at you, immovable, unshakable, no matter what application or animation or other window you open on the desktop -- the dead pixel will not go away. The CinemaDisplay owner gives up trying to nudge the dead pixel back into functionality. The acknowledgement that the pixel is indeed dead and not a tiny bit of food, dust, or sneeze-blast, brings on depression.

• Finally comes acceptance:
  A time of facing pixel death calmly. There will be days when the CinemaDisplay owner will forget the dead pixel. These will be the good days. There will be days when the CinemaDisplay owner rediscovers the dead pixel all over again, thus beginning the cycle of grief all over again. These will be the bad days.