I'm actually an inordinately shy person. Ask my oldest friends; if they're being honest, they'll tell you what a recluse I am, left to my own devices. Were it not for my wife, whom I met in high school, I'd probably have long ago vanished behind a shield of invisibility woven by my reluctance to be known for who I am.
And of all the things I've ever written here, some of which I'm rather proud of when I look back on them, my anger over Harvey is what's going viral.*
Damn. No, seriously. Damn. Anything I say about it will sound like false regrets or fake concern or a tacit disavowal, or even false modesty. No, I wrote it, I own it; but shit.
I really do hate attention. As long as all it brings is people following links to that post, it'll be fine. Maybe. We'll see.
I just don't want to be known as the "angry guy." Although, considering my usual behavior, I've probably earned that reputation, too. Hell, I don't want to be "known" at all. You can know me when I'm dead; it won't concern me then.
I only mention this because if this gets any more popular, you won't hear from me until the attention is over. Really, I gotta tell somebody: "viral" is my worst nightmare.
*probably a gracious exaggeration rather than a proper description. I'm looking at my stats on blogger, and "viral" is not what I'd call it. Actually, I hope I don't have to ever call it that.
A lot of less worthy things go viral. Look at what Google is doodling about today.
ReplyDeleteRmj, I confess I may have contributed to the popularity of your post by sharing the link on Facebook with my friends there. I'm sorry if I was out of order. I shared because I thought yours was a most excellent post and very much to the point.
ReplyDeleteI still haven't recovered from Katrina and the federal flood in New Orleans, and I don't even live there. The place where I grew up and lived till my mid-20s will always be dear to me. My anguish about Texas is quite real because I saw the wreckage in NO first hand, and Texas is the same, but on a larger scale.
The First Draft bloggers organized a group to gut a house in NO under the auspices of the now defunct Acorn group (Thanks, to the perfidy of James O'Keefe), so I know what it's like to strip a house ruined by floodwaters. It's filthy work, but the house is now rebuilt, and a family lives there.
Nobody's at fault, least of all you, June. And "viral" is a loose definition. Last I looked the post was in the low four figures; very high for me, but "viral" to me means at least 5 figures of viewership.
ReplyDeleteIf it hits that, I'm going into Witness Protection.
In my defense, it was a public post. :-)
ReplyDelete"If it hits that, I'm going into Witness Protection."
Yeah, but who's gonna protect you?