Christmas is right around the bend, so it is again time to celebrate Alek O. Komarnitsky and his creative, slightly wacky, Christmas lights extravaganza that he has transformed from a mildly unethical spoof to an act of charity and generosity.

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 and off 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 and light-hearted. Alek took issue with 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. He writes:

“Yes, it is the holiday season, and back online for 2012 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 $70,000 has been raised with … holiday lights – pretty wild.…Last year, Internet surfers from 146 countries stopped by – Hulk says “kids really enjoy turning everything on & off” … so surf on by, tell your friends, blog/facebook/tweet about it, and spread the word.”

I love hearing from Alex (he also has a Halloween display), because he is a great example of a decent and sincere man who took some ethics criticism to heart, figured out a way to accomplish his goals in the most ethical way possible, and doesn’t hold a grudge against a former critic—me. This is the way ethics critiques are supposed to work. I know most of what I write over the year has no substantive impact whatsoever. Still, one post many years ago prompted Alek O. Komarnitsky to make a fake Christmas experience real and better, because I sounded an ethics alarm.

Alek is the hero of this story, but it makes me feel good that I was able to help.

Merry Christmas, Alek!

You’re a good man.