Life Without Twitter

Is there fellowship in the Divided States of America?

On Friday, I hoped to log off Twitter for the last time. Twitter is not for the faint-hearted. It is where the battle for the truth happens. It is where history is written or perhaps re-written as we discover past events previously undisclosed to us. No one can say that I have not fought long and hard to get the truth out - over 50k tweets proves that.

Last week, a brutal ice storm hit my town in a Texas and many surrounding areas. While the storm was going on, I was in Twitter Spaces and even did a podcast talking about Metabiota, perhaps the biggest story I would ever write about. All the while, I was listening to tree limbs crash to the ground all around me. I was not alone and my heart was breaking right along with the tree limbs. People in other parts of the country do not understand that this type of ice does not happen in Central Texas area. We were witnessing decades and even century old trees collapsing due to ice. This on the heels of the worst winter storm in Texas history just two years ago. Despite people telling me they see this every year, I know, we do not.

Due to the Metabiota story taking off at the rate in which it did, I needed to let everyone know I was not going to be on Twitter. The requests I was receiving to speak about Metabiota or to research more on something would not happen. I have other work to do. The first being to help myself and others affected by this storm. It seemed that it would take weeks on this alone.

I logged off Friday to take this on. I was outside for a few hours, when my neighbor comes home from work and said, “I can't go inside while you are working outside all by yourself on this.” He went to his garage, brought his saws outside and we worked together cutting and moving all the broken limbs of my trees. This was the first time he has ever spoken to me in the two years I've lived here. I would try to wave every now and then but no one in the family would ever wave back. He had a Biden sign in his yard during the election and I had a Trump flag on the pole. Something changed Friday. The walls that divided us came down.

He didn't ask if I needed help. He said, “I can't go inside while you are working outside all by yourself on this.” I offered him some water and thanked him. He said, “all I want is fellowship.” After that, he carried his saws across the street to help another man who walked out to tackle his trees. As he walked away, I couldn't help but think, what kept us divided all this time?

All I know is that the world needs more people like him.