My first year in the online world, I watched and observed the work Epic Thanks was doing. This year, I’m taking part.
The idea behind Epic Thanks, like so many wonderful ideas, is simple and pure, 100% concentrated power. Its engine is gratitude. Its motivation is getting everyone to be on that same plane of fortune.
This year, Epic Thanks is working to raise money for a new intermediate school for Mama Lucy and her Tanzanian school children, whom the Twitter world helped so marvelously two years ago. A $10 donation buys a brick. How much more tangible can you get?
But this Epic Thanks fundraiser is not just about raising money. It’s about filling the online world with love, hope, and gratitude. And so, before I embed the widget that will enable you to donate if you like, I’m going to tell you some things I’m thankful for. Even if you don’t donate, I would love it if you wrote a post of gratitude yourself. Maybe even include the widget on your site. That would make me grateful indeed.
What I’m thankful for
On a personal level, a dream came true – I got to visit Springfield, Illinois. I got to walk inside Abraham Lincoln’s house. I even got to walk by his outhouse. And yes, that made me feel joyful.
I’m also thankful that I was able to buy my first piece of real furniture, a couch that is difficult to get out of, especially as the weather grows colder.
I’m thankful for the new lives that have entered the world in my little circle of friends and family – Lily, Malcolm, and Leon are all gorgeous and healthy.
I am missing my Bubbin, Rose, but I am thankful that her fear and suffering are over.
I am thankful that I got to talk to amazing people on the phone this year whom I had previously only talked to online – people like Peg Fitzpatrick, Mark Babbitt, Mark Schaefer, Aaron Biebert, John Boyle, Cindy King, Dan Newman, and many others.
I am thankful that I got to meet my darling friends, Sean McGinnis, Lisa Petrilli, and Lisa Diomede for a fun-filled dinner. I am thankful that I got to give Geoff Livingston and Amber Naslund real-time hugs.
I am thankful that I have found a direction for my online presence that I believe can add some light and hope to the world. I am grateful to people like Chris Brogan, Estrella Rosenberg, Marc Pitman, and Stacey Monk who led me down this path.
I am thankful to David McGraw, who planted the idea in my head that gratitude is far too rare a species in the online world.
I am thankful that Gini Dietrich found me, liked me, and introduced me to other fabulous people like Kaarina, Amber-Lee, and Bill.
I am thankful to Jay Baer, who has done so much to support me online over the last year.
I am thankful for 12Most and all of the people associated with it.
I am grateful that my day-to-day existence is not hanging on the edge of a cliff like so many people are experiencing.
I am thankful that my past is merely a foundation for my future.
I am grateful that I can write this post and know that you, yes you, will embrace it and me warmly.
I am sending my gratitude out into the world. This is only the tip of the iceberg. And I use my gratitude to say, Hey, let’s get this school built so that Tanzanian kids can look back and say, “Wow, people really do care and they used social media to prove it.”
What could be better than that?
A thousand times over, I send warm wishes and hopeful thoughts to you and yours. Let’s spread this good word and bask in thankfulness.
Image Credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/eekim/2691580307 via Creative Commons