If you've already read @surfermarly's, @prufarchy's, and @hansikhouse's posts then you'll have learned that the excitement of meeting face to face was palpable, to the extent it warranted an explanation to the stranger who took the above picture:
"We're meeting for the first time!" @hansikhouse proclaimed, and we couldn't stop grinning foolishly...well I definitely couldn't as you can see in every single picture where I look like a clown--(a sunburned clown :)
Additionally you'll know that @prufarchy and I are making plans not only for steemfest, but also to go on a 'meester' hunt through the Scottish Moors! I can't even tell you how awesome the thought of traipsing across Europe with this genius poet is (my gorgeous friend in the green shirt) to see the lovely, genuine, hilarious, and always entertaining @meesterboom! Cor! (It doesn't hurt that two more of my favorite people on the globe live there too-- @son-of-satire, @tonyr ;)
I'm going to tell you how this beautiful meeting in NYC came about and a bit more about those in attendance...
...and then I am going to explain the title of this post, so don't skim when you come to the next large heading :)
@surfermarly put up a post to let everyone know she was going on vacation and mentioned she was going to a city she'd never seen, in fact she'd twice before had plans to go but they'd fallen through. As I began to wish my lovely friend an excellent time I suddenly had this feeling...so I asked: "This city, wouldn't happen to be New York city would it?" "It is!" she told me, and I knew it was fate, an opportunity that I simply could not pass up. Meeting this beautiful German girl who spends her days in the Canary Islands of Spain, surfing and helping her dad raise hot peppers then sharing it all with us, a woman who has been an enormously positive force in my life since we first met on here, as well as the lives of many others... This would be a dream made reality.
So I reached out to @andrarchy, and for those of you who do not know him, steemit inc. could not have chosen a better man for the task of promoting this platform to those who can help 'take it to the moon' as we would all like to see. Day and night he is out there recruiting because he believes in steem, he believes in steemit, he believes in us. And while he misses being a content creator, he knows that all great things require sacrifice. If you get a chance, be sure to thank him, because he is sacrificing the most valuable commodity on this planet-Time.
Despite his busy schedule he was happy to not only meet Marly and I, but also select a place for us to meet not only him but any others who might want to join us.
And one of these others, @hansikhouse, was someone I did not know until just before the meet-up. Yet the moment we met, with kisses on the cheek and a beautiful genuine smile, I knew I'd found another kindred spirit on this amazing journey. He and his friend @voronois have begun a project called steemit park If you have not seen this, I highly suggest you click on that link, or you may be missing out on the opportunity of a lifetime. And if it's not enough for them to provide one lifetime opportunity, they're already busy with another- THE CREATIVE BLOCKCHAIN NYC: Steemit's New Meetup Group in the Big Apple
When I saw that last post, I couldn't help but feel a bit of pride at the small role I might have played in bringing it about! Amazing guys.
And lastly, though certainly not least, I met the man responsible for bringing @surfermarly to the platform, essentially making him the reason we were all there that day- her dear friend @knircky. A giant of a man with whom I would feel safe walking the streets of any city, I found him brilliant and kind, and it was easy to see why Marly connected with him in University and remained close friends with him all these years. If you are not already following him, I recommend you do so now as he is an avid curator and if you interact with him, he will respond in kind.
And now what I would like to discuss is this next picture.
What do you see when you look at it?
I will tell you what I see.
I see the world exactly as it should be.
On many occasions, both on steemit and off, I have written my thoughts about how this platform has transformed my life. How it was the creative outlet for my fiction that I was missing, how it inspired a passion for photography I didn't know I had, how it had given me new purposes and experiences...but as incredible as all of that is, it's the people that I fell in love with.
When they say "Come for the rewards, stay for the community"? This is not a gimmick. This is an absolute fact.
Every single day I talk to friends from all over the globe. New Zealand, the Philippines, Nigeria, Scotland, London, Canada, Germany, Lithuania, Spain, Australia, Ireland, Italy, Korea, Mexico, Brazil, Argentina, France... NO exaggeration, if anything I'm almost certainly missing some!
Steemit shatters every barrier that could possibly exist between people.
I knew one of my closest friends on here for a full month before I learned that English was not his first language! And another great friend who is almost entirely Spanish speaking as I am almost entirely English speaking! And yet another whose gender I wasn't sure of for months. I have become close with people whose faces I have never seen, voices I have never heard, our relationships based on a love of one another's spirits, minds, thoughts, creative endeavors, similar ideas, ideals, and beliefs. There are no borders here, the only color is everycolor, the only race is the human race, the only religion is love. If steemit was indicative of what the future held for the world, then it would be a bright future indeed. We could all go peacefully to sleep at night, we could all stop worrying about the fates of our children and their children after them.
Just about every social media site on the internet boasts being Global. steemit.com is the first one that actually lives up to this claim.
I can't wait to see any of you again or for the first time, I love you all! Thank you!
I would like to give a special thanks to @surfermarly and @andrarchy for providing me with the pictures for this post. I had one tiny dark smudge on my amazing trip, and that is the unfortunate loss of my camera by some sticky fingers on one of the trains (completely my fault for failing to zip up the side pocket it was in). The cost to replace the device falls far below the irreplaceable pictures that were on it.
And though I know if I were to have put this in the headline of the post I would likely have garnered sympathy votes and potentially brought in enough to buy another, I just couldn't bring myself to make it the focus, because for me the experience of being in the city with a group of evolved beings of light far outweighed the loss of a mere material possession. Marly even sacrificed pictures for her own post to ensure I would still have plenty for mine, such is the beauty of her spirit, such is the power of a real community that cares for one another.
Generously created for me by @son-of-satire