In bed this morning, I rolled over as usual to see what e-mails had arrived for me overnight. There were the commonplace ones -- ads from Athleta, my Google Calendar updates for the day, more annoying announcements from school. There was a short but polite one from K, responding to my random e-mail the previous evening, in which I thanked him for the cables he'd bought me some time ago that I only last night got hooked up at long last to pipe picture and sound from my Mac to my TV. (I christened this new functionality with the iTunes visualizer and my #1 most-played song of all time, VNV Nation's Saviour [Vox], then settled in for an episode of American Experience about FDR.)
And then there was an e-mail alerting me to a comment in need of moderation. A comment on this blog!
It is the first comment I've ever received. When I read it, tears sprang to my eyes. It felt like a tiny pinprick of light had forced its way through the heavy armor of melancholy cloaking my heart. The unexpectedness of it made it all the more touching. May it serve as a reminder to me always that even the smallest of gestures can have a profound effect on someone's life. In a world that, to me, seems filled with hostility and pain, a humble effort can have far-reaching consequences.
How far that little candle throws his beams!So shines a good deed in a naughty world.
--William Shakespeare
:)
ReplyDeletewe all need to know someone is there. i can't tell you how many times i've told stew that i feel like i'm writing to no one. traffic is there but comments are pretty quiet on my blog. keep doing what you're doing and do it just for you. your passion will shine through and followers (if you want them) will come in time.
Katie,
ReplyDeleteMy loneliness wasn't really because of lack of traffic/commenters; I have made no effort to promote this blog and thus am not surprised that it is so quiet. It was more loneliness in my life: a longing for others to reach out to me, to make sure I'm okay. That was why your comment meant so much to me, not because it was a comment here. (Although that was really awesome, too.)