Seasonal Gratitude Post

TL/DR: What if we’re online in order to learn to be vulnerable with one another?

I’m not usually one who writes a Thanksgiving post at Thanksgiving. Typically, I would keep on keeping on and let the proverbial chips fall where they may. Juxtapositions can be a fun tool for making meaning.

Today, however, I just want to say thank you.

Thank you for reading. Thank you for engaging. Thank you for the great conversations.

Thank you for letting me be present.

I believe that good conversations are a kind of shared super power. I’ve written before about user generated content. Online conversations are a kind of user generated content. We decide how we will interact with one another. We decide what information is worth posting online. This includes how we relate to one another. This is always true no matter what we may say to one another, but I am always appreciative of constructive, respectful, and even kind engagement. We need to remember that such activity is a practice. Online data is a collection of interpersonal choices. Online data is a collection of relationships.

What the AI finds is what we dare to reveal to one another.

The quality of that data is entirely up to us. How? Well, who we reveal ourselves to be is the data.

Jimi Hendrix is rumored to have said, “When the power of love overcomes the love of power the world will know peace.” He was outlining a kind of choice we all have the power to make.

We live in an age of Influencers. I often find myself slipping into the desire or habit of being one. It’s a kind of temptation. We all have these audiences to whom we get to perform. I want to be known in some fashion. I want the power of being known.

But what if the call for some of us is to diminish in some way?

I’m a middle aged cis white male. I say that a lot. It’s a helpful reminder that I possess a certain amount of privilege. So, part of my work in this society is to diminish in some way, to use my privilege to center others who do not possess it, to not take up so much oxygen.

My goal is to share who I am not to influence, but to simply be present, to be vulnerable for the sake of being human. This is the foundation of generative online community: vulnerable presence. Well, it’s a possibility at least. It is my aim. Results vary.

I’m not here because I have this idea that you must buy into. I’m not here because I am trying to convince you of something. I am here simply because I am here.

So, again, thank you for letting me be present.

Happy Thanksgiving.

I’m going to stick around.