As my partner just put it, her family "trades in negativity and pessimism". It's a way of creating an in group. "The news sucks and other people are stupid."

And I saw myself getting pulled into the conversations—taking on that tone.

And then I thought of the day—not that long ago—standing on the Aurora bridge. As I prepared to jump, I got a chirp from my phone...and then another. I paused to see what they were; two Mastodon notifications—mentions—nothing big, just a couple nice comments.

They're the reason I didn't jump that day. And neither of those people know what impact they had. They were just tooting in the right place, at the precise right moment.

If those had been links to some bullshit conservatives were doing, or some troll shouting hate-speech, or some spambot trying to market to me, then things might have gone very differently that day.

I want to be the reason someone else doesn't jump.

I want to be the kind words that makes someone feel loved and cared about.

Cool, I made myself cry...again 🤦🏼‍♀️

But I think you get the point. Kindness matters, and you never know how much it might mean to someone.