Your Writing Could Save Somebody’s Life

I was just having a super-cool interaction with my buddy Rusty Shackleford a few minutes ago. I came downstairs to hang with my daughters while they splatted the toon, (playing Splatoon 3 on Switch), and thought I’d check my Medium for new comments.

Sure enough, there’s Rusty. I consider Rusty one of my best buds on Medium and one of my favorite writers. Shameless plug, but fuck it, it’s my page. (Damn, that was a bit close to “butt-plug”) Anyhoo, check out Rusty’s Medium page here:

Give him follow or even better, a subscribe. Christ, give me a subscribe, too. I’ll reciprocate and subscribe back to you. I could use a few more. Help me help YOU. Ok, back to the subject.

Rust had written a moving piece earlier today that I just thoroughly enjoyed, titled: Dear Mom. In it, he talks to his mother who passed away a couple of years back. It’s one of the most beautiful tributes to a lost loved one that I’ve read.

My good friends Donna and Sara both come to mind, having written recent tributes to their parents as well. Losing a parent is so difficult, I have to imagine. You all have them looking down and smiling when you write about them. I guarantee that.

Rusty and I were chatting in the comments, and this comment I sent him inspired me to write this piece. This is dedicated to your lovely mother, Donna’s beautiful mother who recently passed, and Sarah’s awesome father who she wrote about recently.

I hope all three of them are sitting together in the hereafter, enjoying a picnic, and smiling about the words said about them. &:^)

Back around 2007 or 2008, I was in the middle of my newfound love of social media. Specifically, Myspace. You didn’t have a lot of options for social media back then.

There was no Instagram, Twitter, Snapchat, or TikTok. Well, I didn’t have any of them yet, anyway. I guess Facebook existed, but I didn’t join that until 2009.

So Myspace was the big thing. It was fun. It was many people’s first social media experience. And it was pretty neat. You could use cut-and-paste code generators and customize your page in so many ways. You could create a playlist that would start when someone would visit your page. I was instantly smitten.

I used Myspace mainly to add new local contacts and friends. As a newer, hungry real estate agent, expanding my sphere of influence was important. I went at it like a madman. Not unlike my daily following patterns here on Medium.

I even found an auto-requester program that would send 400 friend requests per day. Similar to how I follow 120 writers each and every day here on Medium. It is beneficial to grow your audience in any way you can.

I ended up with 18,900 some friends on Myspace. I was befriending people who ended up being real estate clients. I closed listings and buyers both from contacts I made on Myspace. I even hooked up with a few people I met there after my divorce. Talk about an early social media meat market.

Of all the 18,900 people I met through Myspace, one stood out above all others. It was later in the evening one night. I received a message from someone whose name I forget 15 years later, but whose story I will NEVER forget. It was a message something like this:

“Hey. I just wanted to send you a note and tell you something. I saw the inspirational post you made about never giving up in life. I have been struggling a lot lately and had planned to kill myself tonight. But after seeing your post, I changed my mind. Thank you for posting the things you do.”

Whoa. Talk about a shock. I was floored. I had no idea who this young lady was. She was one of the 18,900 that I tried to interact with as best I could. And now, my writing and post had saved her life.

I don’t recall what I said back to her. I remember though that I definitely responded, told her what that meant to me, and encouraged her to keep fighting. And to message me if she ever felt like she might hurt herself, and that I’d talk her down if this happened. She appreciated that.

I never heard from her again, I don’t think we ever communicated after that. I wish I remembered her first and last name so I could check up on her and see if she’s ok. I can only hope that the brief interaction we had helped set her on a better, happier path eventually.

You see, that’s the power of our writing. We have the chance every day to change somebody’s life. As unlikely as it is that one of our articles, stories, or blogs will save a life or even change one, it’s possible.

When you create your art (yes, writing is 100% fucking art!), you are putting something into the universe and our world that wasn’t there previously. Who does that? WE DO. We are awesome. It’s amazing to be able to influence life, and other human beings, while helping people through our writing.

I want you to stand up and applaud yourself. Applaud all of us here on Medium who are doing our best to be decent human beings while living on a giant rock hurtling through outer space. If you ever feel small, unseen, or not important, please remember this moment.

I’m standing here with you. I’m applauding like crazy. My dog Libby is looking at me as though I’ve lost my mind. Perhaps I have. But there’s one thing I guarantee: Our writing will outlive us all. And others will see it.

Perhaps it will inspire them. Maybe it will make them laugh. You may even save a life, or help set someone on a better path.

I can’t think of a more noble, better living to make than as a professional writer. Keep doing what you do, y’all. &:^)