Good Trolls

I’m still reeling from the excitement of last week.  The Kickstarter made it!  More than $101K was pledged, and we get to push forward with The Norwegian.  Between the baby and the success of this project, I feel as though I’m having one of—if not the most—amazing times of my life. 

My reflection this week is on the topic of trolls.  Not the kind of trolls under bridges in fairy tales, but the ones that troll around on-line. 

These days, when people talk about trolls, they’re referring to the negative kind. You’ve seen them before.  If you go to a popular video on YouTube, you can scroll down the comments section to see a handful of people who’ve written something snarky. Their intentions? To rile up all of the other commenters and cause riotous discussion.  These trolls are fairly miserable people; they lurk in hidden places and try to bring others down. 

During this Kickstarter campaign, I’ve run into my fair share of these damn trolls.  After an interview that was televised on WIFR a few weeks ago, I got torn apart by total strangers in the comment section under the on-line video.  In essence, I was told that I didn’t do enough homework before buying my building, that I deserved to fail, and that I stood no chance of making anything productive happen in that space. 

I was sort of crushed…for a hot second. 

Because then I started to think about how many total strangers also took the time to troll around on the Kickstarter site and pledge money to my project, just because they thought that it was a good and philanthropic act that they could perform.  Good God …I love these trolls.  They lurk behind the scenes and try to do kind things without needing credit for it. 

I vowed to myself early last week that—whether or not the Kickstarter succeeded—I will devote my life to being a good troll.  I love the idea of helping out from behind the curtain, boosting someone’s spirits for no other reason than that it will bring light into the world.  Hokey as it sounds, the world needs as many good trolls as it can get.  So look out world: good troll Hurd is on the loose! 

I hope you’ve had a wonderful week, Reader. I officially start maternity leave this Friday, and I’m excited for a much needed 2-week break. Whatever you’ve got on tap, I hope it’s grand. See you back here soon. -Em

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