To Ease the Passing of Time

My friend Ricky was a pretty famous and well-known YouTuber a few years ago. He had over six million followers and new ones were signing up every day. His thing was to go all over the world to find odd and unusual places to visit, make videos, and publish them on YouTube. He went to the middle of Vietnam to explore a cave that had never been visited before because it was full of bats and poisonous snakes. He spent a few weeks with the isolated Yali people in Indonesia. Here’s what you can find about the Yali people online “A significant element that helped the Yali maintain their tribal lifestyle is that their lands are largely isolated by challenging geography. Their villages are only accessible by walking through rough terrains for several hours.” Ricky’s ability to connect easily with almost anybody and his charming personality were keys to his success.

Ricky’s downfall started with the arrival of new YouTubers who were even bolder and fearless than him. In other words, they were crazier than him. I saw on the news this morning that one was arrested in California for simulating the crash of his small plane in order to get more views on YouTube.[1] That’s the competition Ricky had to deal with…and he did not survive. The number of his followers started shrinking and there were less and less people watching his videos. Ricky started feeling depressed and he decided to put an end to his Ricky’s Trips and Adventures on YouTube. I didn’t hear from him for a while.

I saw Ricky last week. He was sitting alone on a bench in Vincent Massey Park in Ottawa. I sat down next to him.

“Hey Ricky, nice to see you! What are you up to?”

“Oh, Hi Jeff! Not much, just watching the river flow.”

“Any plans for new trips and exploration?”

“Not really! Since it’s so expensive to travel and I no longer get the money from YouTube, I decided to explore and write about what’s going on inside of me: my thoughts, my opinions, my emotions and all that stuff. It's like, you know, emotional, spiritual and intellectual trips."

“Interesting! How do you do it?”

“I created a blog. If you’re interested, I’ll send you the link.” Now, I have only a few followers: my sisters and a few friends. Maybe I’ll be able to increase the number of my followers to a few hundred by the end of the year…”

“That’s a good idea, Ricky! You can send me the link to your blog; I’ll read it, I promise. But why did you do it? Why create a blog?”

"I don’t know; it’s like I need something; it’s like, you know, my life is empty. I need a way to communicate and express myself."

“I think I know what you mean, but if I were you, Ricky, I’d keep my blog the way it is now: just a few people who care for you and you’re comfortable with. If you have high expectations in terms of numbers of readers and all that shit, you’ll end up feeling like a failure if you don’t achieve your goals.”

“Maybe you’re right, Jeff!; maybe I should keep it cozy and simple, just between me and a few people who really care for me."