This past week was filled with tributes to two creative and inspiring people. Tributes by people those two had never met, and yet had touched their lives in ways the artists couldn't have imagined. While The Goblin King was a key character in my childhood and, like all good Harry Potter fans, I had a love/hate relationship with Severus Snape, I did not know the depths of the creative talent we lost last week like many others did. Here are two tributes from my reading list:
David Bowie and Alan Rickman provided meaning and direction to two of the writers I most look forward to reading when slogging through my Feedly each day. These two missives were moving to me not only because of how heartfelt they were, but also because of how they weren't able to say these words to these people while the inspirations were still alive.
Undoubtedly, people like David Bowie and Alan Rickman receive busloads of fan mail. We hope they know an inkling of how they touched the lives of their fans. But I imagine these people are humans just like the rest of us. People who want to know that they make a difference. Somewhere. To someone.
So this week's thank you is dedicated to the people who you can't thank in person. Or don't know how to thank. I was lucky, the person I decided to write to this week has a mailing address on her blog (PO Box because she knows not everyone is awesome). It seems like a long-shot that well-known people would read your letter among the thousands of others they get. But what if your thank you, among all the other fan mail, reaches that person and touches that piece of them that pushes them to keep creating, keep sharing, keep being.
These people don't have to be movie starts or billionaires. They can be the people who showed you the path ten years ago. The casual advice in a previous career that launched even more success, or avoided certain failure. These people who never knew the impact their words, their actions or their ideas had on you years later. If you can find them, thank them. Thank them through email if you don't have a mailing address. Thank them through LinkedIn if you don't have an email. Or thank them publicly through a blog or a post if you have lost track of them completely. In this world of social media, you never know where your words will end up.
Everyone needs to be reminded that they matter. Have mattered. And continue to matter.
Undoubtedly, people like David Bowie and Alan Rickman receive busloads of fan mail. We hope they know an inkling of how they touched the lives of their fans. But I imagine these people are humans just like the rest of us. People who want to know that they make a difference. Somewhere. To someone.
So this week's thank you is dedicated to the people who you can't thank in person. Or don't know how to thank. I was lucky, the person I decided to write to this week has a mailing address on her blog (PO Box because she knows not everyone is awesome). It seems like a long-shot that well-known people would read your letter among the thousands of others they get. But what if your thank you, among all the other fan mail, reaches that person and touches that piece of them that pushes them to keep creating, keep sharing, keep being.
These people don't have to be movie starts or billionaires. They can be the people who showed you the path ten years ago. The casual advice in a previous career that launched even more success, or avoided certain failure. These people who never knew the impact their words, their actions or their ideas had on you years later. If you can find them, thank them. Thank them through email if you don't have a mailing address. Thank them through LinkedIn if you don't have an email. Or thank them publicly through a blog or a post if you have lost track of them completely. In this world of social media, you never know where your words will end up.
Everyone needs to be reminded that they matter. Have mattered. And continue to matter.
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