A Bright Side of Social Media

We've all heard about—and some of us have personally experienced—the dark side of social media. I’m thrilled to share a few stories of its bright side.

My precious niece Lauren had one week off from work. She lives in Florida and chose to come to New York to spend time with me before starting a new job. She was one of the first people to read Packets of Hope and offer me encouragement. She’s one of those positive people in my life who help me keep going.

While we sat at my kitchen table talking about life, she said, “I’m going to reach out to Linda Hurtado, a news anchor I worked with. She’s a breast cancer survivor, too. I think she’ll love your book and want to interview you.” Lauren emailed Linda. Linda emailed back. And I’m sharing with you now the Facebook post featuring Linda’s interview with me. It’s helped people around the U.S. learn about Packets of Hope.   

And then there’s LinkedIn. I joined LinkedIn only a few months before becoming a senior citizen, but it has truly been life changing. After one of the most incredible experiences of my journey around the world—being prayed over in the Minister of Education’s office in Samoa—we hadn’t heard anything further about their interest in Overcoming Obstacles. Through LinkedIn, I discovered the leadership had changed within weeks of my visit. I reached out to the new Minister. He responded. A request was made to translate our materials into Samoan. And now, we're preparing to share Overcoming Obstacles’ newest translations with the Minister and his education team.

And one more very personal story. Thirty years ago, I lost touch with one of our first Overcoming Obstacles interns. She was like a daughter to me. I often wondered how she was doing and hoped she had achieved her dreams. Through LinkedIn, I found her. We are back in contact!

I also reconnected with one of our first staff members and was able to help her reconnect with a dear mutual friend, one of our earliest students. Each of them had been hoping to find the other.

Social media is not for everyone, and can be dangerous. Especially for children. But for me, now—friends sharing posts, messages reaching unexpected places, and connections being restored—it has been an amazing journey.

If you would like to follow and support my memoir through social media, the links are below.