We all need fans.
There’s something powerful about knowing that, in advance of an achievement or an accomplishment, or in advance of something you release to the world, there’s a receptive audience.
For your ideas.
For your visions.
For your dreams.
When you think of the greatest achievements the world has known, you often think of two universes circling the achiever. The ideator.
You think of those who came so close to genius, and instead of creating space for it, cast it aside. Walked past it, or even more powerfully, stopped, stared, and let it walk on by instead.
“I’m not even going to do the work of dismissing you; you can do that yourself.”
That’s one universe.
The other universe though, is the fan.
People rise and fall to the expectations we set for them. That message is meant for the people setting expectations.
It’s most important though, for the people upon whom those expectations are set.
Which is why in those stories of genius it’s amazing to think of the power of being a fan.
One fan can offset hundreds, even thousands of detractors. One fan can negate all of the doubt, and set a bar so extraordinarily high, the doubters fade from the rear view mirror and are soon so far gone, it’s ridiculous to think they even existed.
Today, on your birthday, my magic, you did it again. You reminded me why I’m your biggest fan. You reminded me why from the moment you were born, everyone had a name for you, but I had a feeling.
“Magic.”
I watched you set up art stations in our garage for all your friends. I watched you circle the room to make sure everyone was taken care of. I watched you pick individual paint-by-numbers for each person based on what they like and what they’d like to paint.
I watched you.
I also watched you heave after all was said and done. As your friends clustered off together. I watched you circle our house alone. And then, when I tapped you on the shoulder I watched you shake your head free of some of that self doubt and questioning, and come back to earth, and make sure nobody else played alone, and make sure everyone had their goodie bag.
You make friends everywhere you go. You design, build, construct, friendships. When you make friends, you truly make them.
I watched you love and care at age 7 like many at my age can’t even fathom.
It’s when I realized that I need to be an even more vocal and bigger fan of you and the love you’re capable of bringing into this world. And so I shall.
I’ll forget sometimes. But I’ll come back to this post. I’ll look at these pictures. And I’ll remember.
That for you and your ability to love so creatively — so artistically — I’m downright fanatical.
As you turn 7, today my love for you is like what the greatest connoisseurs of art feel for their favorite artists. And then some.
I love you my magic. Keep loving the world as exceptionally as you do. I’ll remember my place and I assure you, like all great things, the world will take not and celebrate it more and more.
Unfortunately, most friendships will leave you but they will still send you a “like”, but they don’t really take time to read your status if they see it’s long. More than half will stop reading here, or have already moved to the next entry in your feed.
It’s a very long process. Please, in honor of a family member or a friend who died, or is still fighting cancer, or even had cancer, but is cured; copy and paste this.
and then write “done” in the comments. Thank you.
But let’s do his and let’s get out on that court and let’s stay…between the three point lines. 
Suneet Bhatt 
FINDING HOPE AND FRIENDSHIP IN COMMENTS or HATE HAS NEVER CHANGED A MIND
I stepped away from Facebook for a while; two years ago I took my friends on FB down from I think a couple thousand (+) to 7. Just family. I almost went deleted it all together but the photos…ahhh, the photos and memories were the best part of it.
When I started coming back online, I promised myself I’d make Facebook the place I wanted it to be. I was going to do more to get back to my #iamgrateful and #iamthankful posts. I got a lot of negativity about these posts, but I also realized through DMs and messages how many people kind of looked forward to them. So I wanted to make this a place that brought me happiness and positive energy (I needed that in spades, especially last year, as I think many of us did).
There are a lot of ways I’ve used FB to get there; but one of the most powerful has been jumping into the comment section of really heated posts and trying to see if I could find common ground with people. And it’s been amazing.
Today was that example; where I saw a woman comment on Joe BIden’s inauguration, and go down a path of slamming him for wanting to defund police.
The discussion we had in the comments was super positive. Even though around us, people were slamming her (and even laughing at me) for how we shared our perspectives.
What was awesome though, was where we ended. Giving each other just a little sprinkle of positivity and hope. That we can find common ground, even the smallest slivers.
When you put enough of those slivers together, you get steps, then stairs, and then, maybe, one day, bridges.
#iamgrateful and #iamthankful for some of the people I’ve met. Who have helped me get past the beliefs they have and into the reasons why. I am hopeful. And of all I know, I know one thing for sure: hate has never changed a mind.
On the day between MLK Day and Inauguration Day, I found hope in what many believe to be the most disappointing part of our virtual world; the comment section.
I found hope, and sometimes even, I’ve found friendship there.
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Filed under #iamgrateful #iamthankful
Tagged as CHANGEOFMIND, COMMENTS, friendship, HATE, kindness, love