The Unseen Beauty of Mass Texts

I've spent time throughout the years reading feel-good anecdotes on the Internet about the good Samaritans of the world, saving lives, helping those in need, and working towards a greater good. As someone who is, as weird as it is to admit on a Good Deed thread, a Hobbesian, I can acknowledge and truly appreciate those people who chip away at my belief. Though I have had the privilege of experiencing and witnessing some incredible acts of generosity, I wanted to talk about a truly small and understated deed that I have found went a long way for me and something I've tried to incorporate into my good habits. Mass texts.

Mass texts can be irritating and seemingly inane. I at one point, didn't see the upside of receiving or sending these texts. But mass texts open a door for communication. It might be a brief "Happy halloween! How are you doing?" or a more engaging "Happy thanksgiving! It's been a while, what have you been up to?". The past year was plagued by a global pandemic to which noone can say they haven't been affected by. I spent more time scrolling through the virtual world of social media and cellular device communication. To say I don't have a large online presence is an understatement; I don't have an Instagram or interact via tweet, my Facebook is no more, and I'm not a blogger of any kind. I like to see people in more tangible settings, but since that has been restricted, I resort to observing the crazy world of Reddit posts and YouTube videos. And text. Simple text.

March 17th: "Happy St. Patrick's day! Can't believe we're in lockdown. OMG". It was the 4-day anniversary of when Toronto went into lockdown, university transitioned to be fully online in a haste with only 1 month left, and suddenly people were staying home to work and stores mandated masks for entry. I responded to my friend with a simple acknowledgement and wished her well for upcoming exams. But then shortly after, Easter came and a few more people participated in sending mass texts, some just to note the festive bunny and egg day, but others to ask about how I was doing and what I was doing for exams and after school was done. I was surprised by some of the names of the senders, people I haven't seen or talked to in a while. I decided to continue the conversation and eventually we got to catch up, even if just for the 30 minute text exchange. It was nice to hear from people, especially since at the time, the only words I read were from between textbook covers. But what was nicer is that people went out of their way for a seemingly small gesture. Which made me realize something else.

We are awkward. Well, maybe not everyone, but people seem to have this tacit social contract that you only associate with people in the context you find them in. If you're friends, then you're golden. Talk away. But if it's a co-worker or a partner for a single school project or someone you were friends with but naturally distanced from for extraneous reason, you will slowly break apart socially once that context has reached an end and you run out of context-related things to talk about. Sure, you may not particularly like that person now so you're not obligated to. But if it was a good person in your life, does it really need a context to say hello or what's up? Maybe it'll just end with a "good, you?" and a curt finale, but maybe you might find yourself in a 30 minute text convo with someone you appreciate once more.

All in all, I'd like to thank my mass texters. Thank you for including me in the list of people who you send holiday texts and memes to. The people who check up every few months and those who start the conversation to keep our spider web of a community going. And to thank you, I've come to join you in the crusade. Hello

world!