I've been on Daily Kos a long time, but not since the beginning. Meteor Blades was one of the first people I liked here. Many people were careless to me, or mean. He was never either.
Here I was, with a book open and about to write a new Native American Netroots diary tonight. And I feel no reason or urge to now. Hopefully you will find something resonant in this diary instead.
And by the way, Native American Netroots would not have done nearly as much as it has without Meteor Blades being there to recommend and encourage so much of the time. It's not just the editors of a group who comprise it. A leader without followers is not a leader. Meteor Blades encouraged so many writers, people passionate about so many progressive interests. He was the great invisible force who constantly nurtured the site and made it not only worthwhile but extraordinary.
So many of us interacted with him, because he was up late, because he was on the site for much of the day. This is not to mention how we interacted with him through his moderating (and honestly, it is humbling how well he moderated by himself).
There are several people in my life that Meteor Blades reminds me of in part, but his was a unique presence on the site. I recognized in him a tolerance and a kindness that I see so much in older American Indian men of a certain generation, many of them radical activists in the 1970s. The warrior is still there inside. But these people have moved into elderhood.
And that said, Meteor Blades brought wisdom to this site.
It would be way to easy to dismiss the experiences Meteor Blades had, despite being a person who lives his values, in a context where we saw him only (or primarily) through his effectiveness in written word. And he has had a lot of practice in 6 decades, living as a journalist and blogger. He has seen much of the country, and seen great poverty, and I know that Meteor paid dearly at times for his values of equality and fraternity and liberty. It is a kind of suffering that is especially scarce even in a country with so much suffering. It reminds me of my grandmother, who survived the Depression. It reminds me of the cycles before me on my own path in life.
There are many kinds of warrior in our country, only some of whom enlist in the US military. Meteor Blades is the best kind.
I will not pry or speculate into his departure. Nor is it likely for him to see this. Our time with him was a gift. And if he comes back to us that too is a gift from the Creator. But if he does see this, I want to write to Meteor Blades:
Thank you
So here I'll call him teh-geewn-ap in the old language, which means older brother, which is how I think of him. His was always one of my favorite names to see among the recommenders of a diary or comment of mine. Though I never got the chance to go to Netroots Nation, I would sometimes wonder about meeting people there and imagined him among the first.
I will leave it as these words, which, while biased from my perspective, hopefully reflect or mirror how you've known Meteor Blades as well.
~ / ~ / ~
From the comments:
On the very rare occasion that Meteor Blades (0+ / 0-)
gave me a rec on a comment - I knew that I was briefly thinking and communicating on a level to be proud of.
I'll respect his privacy, but truly hope that his absence is due to a wonderful opportunity and not any kind of hardship.
An imbalance between rich and poor is the oldest and most fatal ailment of all republics - Plutarch
by Anthony Page aka SecondComing on Wed Aug 10, 2011 at 09:18:35 PM PDT