When Fantasy Meets Reality

In Barry Lopez’s allegorical fable Crow and Weasel,
two friends are returning home after a long journey when they meet
Badger. They tell her where they have been and what has happened to
them. She knows that it is not just the journey but the story that is
important, and tells them why:

The stories people tell have a way of taking care of them.
If stories come to you, care for them. And learn to give them away
where they are needed. Sometimes a person needs a story more than food
to stay alive.

Indeed, life for me has been a series of stories, and BlogShares
is among them. You may look at it as “just this online game” but for me
it has been so much more than that. Through my work behind the scenes
and in this game’s community, I have met and built friendships with a
lot of different people from all over the world. Some
of our stories have been happy, others not so happy, but I wouldn’t
trade my experiences for anything. I may not always have time to spend
answering posts in the forums or replying to emails or private
messages, but I do read them and absorb everything I’m being told.
There are times when I’ve felt I should have jumped in and said
something but it’s just not always possible to do so at the time, and
then the moment has passed. (If I’ve disappointed anyone, I’m sorry.)
There have been other times when I wished someone else would have
jumped in and said something too, but for whatever reason, didn’t. I
try my best, and I hope that others do too. It’s all we can do, really.

I’ve been asked on more than one occasion Why? I do all this work for
an online game. I imagine some people think I am getting a lot of money
for what I’m doing. Others seem to think I’m insane for dealing with
all the hair-pulling stress involved, my spouse among them. But it’s
the people I’ve met there that really matter to me, even if I never get
the chance to sit down and have a drink with them at the pub or tell
them face to face what they mean to me.

It’s our story. That’s what matters.