A famous author one spoke of the times being trying for men's souls, and we're in the midst of such a time right now. This mini crypto storm we're currently in reminds me of the "shakedown cruises" we had when I served in the Navy.
We got a chance to test the ship to ensure she was seaworthy, and try the fortitude of the men as well. It was a good chance to find out who was worth keeping for the long six-month world cruise ahead of us.
Some sailors bailed, unable (and unwilling) to handle the deprivations of a short jaunt from Norfolk, Virginia, to Guantanamo Bay (GTMO), Cuba. This was useful, because we'd be entering enemy waters at times, and when General Quarters sounded, you needed to know that you could count on the sailor to the right of you to hang tough, pull his weight, and do his share.
I can still remember when we had by chance, multiple combat exercises, a refueling, and a re-supply which kept us up working for 56 hours straight. At the end of it we were all exhausted, but I've never been prouder to stand shoulder to shoulder with some of the best people on the planet.
And it's the same here on Hive, where if you've been around as long as I have (5 years in July), you see the same names continuing to build through the good times and the bad. And that my friends, leads to what I call "The Boomerang Bloggers."
I wrote about this last year. You know the type: when the token price is high, they post every day to collect their rewards, but as soon as the price falls, we get the goodbye post... Then, once the price recovers, Eureka! Here comes the "I'M BAAAAACK!" post, which gets massive upvotes and tons of welcoming comments. Like a mosquito sucking the blood of it's host, they return again and again for a feeding.
Wash, rinse, repeat.
The people I have a lot of respect for are those who care about the community and the platform, while continuing to pitch in day after day. No matter what the price was, they were in here bailing water and patching holes to help keep this great ship afloat. These are the types of people you can count on when the going gets tough.
I know. I was here in fall of 2017 back on Steemit, when the crypto prices soared, and kept building when they crashed again in early 2018. Learned about this place in spring of 2016 and was skeptical at first, but all of that melted away, and I jumped in with both feet back in July, 2017. I've seen them come, and I've seen them go. So this ain't my first rodeo! :)
A hearty 'Thank You' to each and every one of you who stayed to help build Hive and LeoFinance while turning it into a community that we can all call home.
And if ypu're an aspiring blogger out there who found this post through my Twitter account or from a search on Google, join us. Stop giving your work away for free on legacy social media, and embrace the sense of ownership and pride that blogging on Hive offers you.
I don't blog simply for the tokens, I blog because I have something to say. A cement mixer could run me over a year from now, and if so, at least I'll have left something behind.
Unlike Blogger which is where I was before coming here, on LeoFinance I own my work, and have a real sense of community here that I never had before. That's why I'm here now, and will be five years from now God willing, because no matter what the token price is, This. Place. Is. Priceless. Do you agree?