I haven’t plugged my friend Alek O. Komarnitsky in quite a while, and since I’m having a hard time keeping up with all the abuse ( and repetitious rationalizations) from the NORML  crowd over on the “Distracted Driving…” thread, this is a good time to re-introduce him.

Back in 2004, Alek received national attention for his whimsical holiday website that allowed people all over the world to turn his elaborate Christmas lights on from their home computers. Everyone had fun, which was clearly Alek’s design. Still, when it became known that his site was a hoax and that the lights going on and off were only an illusion, I weighed in (on The Ethics Scoreboard) with the opinion that perpetrating such a large-scale deception was wrong, no matter how well-intentioned. Alek objected to my criticism, and we had a spirited e-mail debate.

Then, at a significant cost in time and money, Alek devised a way to really let people all over the world turn on his lights. He has done this ever since, and uses the site to raise money to cure Celiac disease. This year, he writes:

“Yes, it is the holiday season, and back online for 2011 are the Controllable Christmas Lights for Celiac Disease. Once again, three live webcams and X10 technology allows web surfers to not only view the action, but also *control* 20,000+ lights … plus inflate/deflate the giant 15′ Santa Balloon, Santa on Skis, in a Helicopter, and flying a Plane … along with Elmo, Frosty Family, SpongeBob SquarePants, and Homer Simpson Santa – D’OH!

“The website is totally free (and totally fun) and is one of my zany ways of raising awareness & soliciting donations for Celiac Disease –  – my two sons have this condition, so it’s personal for me. If folks are so inclined, you can make an optional donation directly to the University of Maryland Center for Celiac Research. Over $60,000 has been raised with … holiday lights – pretty wild.“

Pretty wild is right. I visit Alek’s site every year, and it is fun. More important, this very nice, creative and whimsical man took some ethics criticism to heart, made things right, and is now making people happy all over the world, spreading the spirit of the season, and helping to treat a rough disease.

Merry Christmas, Alek, and thanks for making the world a better, kinder, happier place.

That’s the objective of ethics, after all.