Jackie Danicki

The joy of Twitter:

it’s like sitting on the front stoop watching the world go by

…Deborah Schultz says - on Twitter, of course - about scrolling through her friends’ Twitters with her morning coffee.

I agree completely (and I don’t even drink coffee). I’d also say that this stuff (Twitter, blogs, Flickr, Facebook) expands the world I’m watching go by, and makes it more special and more populated with valued people. I’ve only met Deborah once in the flesh, but her Twitters often raise a smile, and there are many others like her (some of whom I have never met) of whom I can say the same thing. Others may provoke a scowl, but lead me to interesting discussions or otherwise make me think. So much treasure!

Doc Searls the other day responded to Rollo May’s opinion that Writers differ from all other creative types in that they suffer the illusion that the world really needs to hear what they have to say. I know I beat this subject like a dead horse (or, rather, a horse I wish would DIEDIEDIE already), but as soon as I read that quotation, I knew it was the misguided sentiment of a socialist. And here’s where Rollo May’s attitude got him:

In the end, however, he found it difficult to lose self-consciousness in the doing of good, as when he confessed to his diary a certain repulsion at the “sheer mockery” and “utter profanation” of playing trombone in a Salvation Army-like mission band…

When you no longer view “the world” as a faceless, voiceless collective and instead see it for what it is - made up of distinct, wonderful, flawed individuals - losing self-consciousness in the doing of good is no longer a problem. Twitter, blogs, Flickr, et al are eye-opening and horizon-expanding for just that reason. Coffee is optional*.

*This statement will be viewed by many friends and enemies as the most flameworthy thing I have ever written.

Filed under: Life