Thread by @rising_serpent

It's been a long time since I said it, and who knows if there'll be a chance to do so in the future. So here goes:
I've learned more by being on Twitter than I could have imagined, and it was possible only because so many excellent people say so many amazing things. So thank you

I had absolutely no intention of using social media when I started. It was just a way to defray and externalize internal angst while having to forgo the almost always painful work of personal reflection.
I wrote about it a year after I joined.

https://twitter.com/rising_serpent/status/1010270775239217154?s=19

It was nothing more than a sojourn into the septic tank of human behavior that was supposed to make my station in life feel better by comparison.
Then the inconceivable happened.
People said stuff that made sense, resonated and instructed.

I learned more about listening to everyday people talk about everyday lives and struggles than I ever had by roaming the halls of institutional Ivory towers populated by smug sanctimonious self-appointed experts sitting on thrones bejeweled with judgment and scorn.

It really was a crash course in Americana, with emphasis on crash.
Because it's easier to get derailed by cognitive puckered rectums than to learn from composed sages.
One gets used dopamine hit of being a snarky asshole, in response to other assholes, like mainlining heroin.

But as long as the overall vector is in the direction of listening and not speaking, personal growth becomes inevitable.
And for that I thank you.
Sure, there's a lot of disinformation.
But is there a place where there's none?

For every crackpot, there's also a visionary. Sometimes telling them apart becomes difficult, and sometimes they are the same person.
But so much more fun than listening to the same people say the same stuff on Thanksgiving. And I can't block my mother-in-law (I've tried)

I'm still amazed how or why people read anything I write. But far from complaining about your lack of judgment and taste, I wholeheartedly endorse it. And it has been humbling and gratifying to say the least.
And for that too, I thank you.

Twitter is a hive mind
Diseased, full of tumors and with parts like the brain from the jar labeled Abbey normal. But also some parts so spectacular and refulgent that its schizophrenia and hemiplegia aren't impediments
You don't need to walk or talk to be a theoretical physicist

You get what you put into it. And what you accept.
It's like learning from hundreds of thousands if not millions of teachers.
Some who teach by example and others who teach by the cautionary tale of not wanting to become like them.
And you can learn how to be better, or worse.

And although the last few days have been unsettling, it wasn't because of the fear of losing my account, or follower count. Those are meaningless to a person who planned to be here for a maximum of 3 months and instead stayed for 3 years.

It was unsettling because of the dawning realization that this is the end of an epoch, and uncertainty brings anxiety. But I'm forever grateful to have been a part of this amazing experience and to have the privilege of learning and interacting with you.

I've learned more about American history, politics, and a broad range of other topics in the last 3 years than I have in the last two decades of living in the US.
And I did it either 140 or 280 characters at a time. Which works just fine for me.

So I just want to take a moment to thank you for making my life a little bit richer, more fun and interesting. It's easier to be negative, but the truth is that I'm net positive on Twitter, and in life.
The ride has gotten wilder, and rougher, but that's the nature of life.

I don't know what comes next. All I know is that I'm better equipped to deal with it today than I was a few years ago.
Because I've learned to borrow your strength, wisdom and hope till I could grow my own.
And for everything I thank you.
-Fin