We pick up a pebble, study it, launch it into a nearby pool of water, watch for a splash, and smile. We pick up a larger stone, weigh it up in the palm of our hand, fling it as far as an outstretched arm can reach, grin as the splash startles a nearby bird. We pick up a weightier rock, legs set firm, no let’s talk a run, launch that demonstrator of our cunning and strength and see if we can hit a target, yesss! We look around for a boulder, heavier than us, roll it, roll it, to the cliff’s edge, and see it take on a spin of its own… It does, and what it takes in its path is a whole consequence of destruction as it tears down the hillside, bouncing off the rock face, loosening ground and wild tufts of growth, bringing it all tumbling down with a resounding crack, as it stamps itself upon the destination … we curiously wondered about.
It’s in the nature of human curiosity to explore, push out and back, and with much bravado sail into the unknown. And so Twitter was created and the surface gently skimmed by tweet pebbles, curiously looking for smiles. Early adopters saw the opportunity to create ripples and came laden with strategies to create ways to build, delight and startle their audience. The media, by gush and by lash, called for attention, and sure enough the backlash of rock throwers and pebble skimmers created a wave-pool phenomenon, pulling the waters every which way, with new puddles appearing all over and increasingly straining the resources, like the holes in Swiss cheese.
What happened next was only a matter of time. A malicious boulder was bound to bowl in on the act and tear down those diligently created, lovingly narcissistic silky webs of the spinners and the spun. The question today is whether curiosity will unravel or consume what is left after the havoc.
April 13, 2009 at 6:13 pm
Interesting post – I really like the metaphor of stones & boulders. You really have a nice writing style, conversational and yet precise. Thanks for tweeting the link 🙂
April 13, 2009 at 6:21 pm
Please keep our cups filled with your fine serving of words that delight and invite us to sit and enjoy cup after cup, post after post.
April 13, 2009 at 8:09 pm
Havoc, though a humbling experience, helps bring those true of heart closer together.
Havoc, also exposes Twitter vulnerabilities but, for me, that is part of the appeal.
For it seemed that we as a community, or so I witnessed last night, came together to help fight this vulnerability.
And there still remains an innocence to Twitter.
I’m still learning new capabilities.
I’m still finding amazing – touch your soul – amazing individuals.
Well, look, I met you on Twitter 🙂
That to me is all the argument I need to say why I think life is good in the Twitterverse.
(not that THAT is what is being discussed here..but that is how your blog inspired me) 🙂
C. M.
April 13, 2009 at 8:34 pm
Thank you Kayt, Marianna and Casper for your comments.
For me it’s the inevitability that creates, only to destruct; the hope-fuelled fight that causes us to believe in the good in everything and test the limits of that very hope; the beautiful sandcastle lovingly assembled from millions of grains of sweat and vision, only to be jumped upon in glee – and sadness, born of a jealousy or a vanity of self-importance over what another has evoked. If we cannot rejoice in one tiny step forward, we cannot cry over the two steps back.