This is so excellent @thedesertlynx on so many levels. So many times in my life I’ve played the “if only” game. “If only this happens” I will be satisfied and happy. I will be fulfilled, and all will be right in (my) world. But every time I achieve what I think I’m after I’m confronted with a deeper truth. That no matter how hard I strive, and whatever results arrive, I’m still faced with me on the receiving end. And that can feel as tiny, lost and lonely as a grain of sand or as full and fulfilled as the universe. It’s a choice. But much of the time it doesn’t feel that way. And when the world is crashing down, it’s near impossible to parse out.

One thing that strikes me about what you’ve written is the passion that courses through your words. We live in a time of mass dissconnetion and I know you to not only be a community builder, but a deeply passionate person as well, holding strong and fighting for what you believe in. I thrive off a similar engine, and have done so for much of my life, and I think it can be particularly difficult when the disconnected & casual are unfeeling or take potshots. I feel so lucky to have a young family that reminds me every day that my simple existence of being a father and a husband is as important as my loftier goals. But even so it takes work.

And lastly I think you eloquently break down a fundamental truth, one that my wife reminds me of on a regular basis — which is that we don’t really know what others are going through unless we take the time to bear witness and sit with them and make some skillful effort to work through it if possible. Which as you point out can be even more damaging if done unskillfuly.

It’s a strange time in our world. A time of intense transition and a time when leisure, entertainment, hardship and hard work are all facets of the human existence, but the roadmap seems to shift on a daily basis. Here’s hoping that some of the amazing new technologies open up new and exciting forms of governance and societal benefit the way DASH and STEEM are already paving the way.

Keep being an amazing, deeply thought example. We need more like you.