I came home from work this afternoon and started scrolling through my email...lots of spam...cash loans, magic jack, magic jack, best cigars, best cigars, best cigars (why am I suddenly getting hourly spam for cigars?)..."you have received a Lifetime Gift Subscription to Daily Kos"...wait--WHAT?!
It seems my dear friend mapamp has gifted me with a lifetime subscription. To say I'm grateful would be an understatement.
I'm also quite humbled.
I knew, of course, about the subscription campaign, and I've been delighted that some of my friends have received gift subscriptions, but I never expected to receive one myself. You see, I'm far from being a mover and shaker on this site; I don't really post a lot, and I mostly hang out in the community diaries--garden blogging, WAYWO, Brothers and Sisters, WYFP?, and of course the pootie/woozle diaries. I love this place because of the friends I've made here--people who have mourned with me when my cat died; people who listened to my description of being bitten by a (different) cat, and practically forced me to seek medical attention immediately; people who are just always ready to hear what kind of day I've had. I am awed by the way people here step up to care for friends in need, from offering advice to offering money to offering a place to stay. This is what real community is about, and I'm proud to be even a tiny part of it.
But I also love this place because it has stretched me--in 2008, I had never actually volunteered for a political campaign before, but I was faced with constant reminders on the site that we all had to step up and do our part. I finally made the phone call, and spent months knocking on doors for the Obama campaign.
I also love the way this site educates; there is an incredible amount of knowledge and expertise here, on every subject from archaeology to nuclear energy, and I am glad to soak up all that knowledge. But there's another sort of knowledge shared here that's even more important, and that is knowledge of people who are different from us. I think in particular of people like rserven, who has shared so much about her journey as a transsexual woman. Learning about and empathizing with the "other" is, I think, a key part of what being a liberal is all about--we recognize that the "other" is more like us than different, and we care that all people have the chance to fulfill their dreams.
So why am I humbled by this gift I've received? I took a look at the list in Cedwyn's diary; there are so many people on that list who are much more deserving of this gift than I am. I wish I could give every one of them a lifetime subscription! As it is, I will have to be contented with making a smaller gift, or paying it forward in another way--I have a couple of ideas about that...
And once again--thank you, thank you, dear mapamp!