Social Media Saved my Life.

A typical 1980s CB base station. This two-way ...

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When I was 10 I was stung by a hornet and ended up having a reaction which resulted in me passing out. Had my Grandmother not had social media at her disposal I would not be writing this post. Want to know how I was saved?

 

First let me explain that I spent all my summers growing up on my Grandparents farm in Dawn, Missouri. They raised black Angus cattle and we bailed our own hay to feed the cattle during the winter. After you bail hay if it rains you have to go out and turn the bails so they can dry out. It was about 95 degrees this particular day when my brother and I was out turning bails over so they could dry on the bottom before we picked them up to stack them for storage for winter feeding. After I got stung my Grandmother slapped some mud on the spot to draw the poison out and sent me back out in the field to turn more hay bales. Shortly there after I started feeling poorly so we loaded up the pickup and headed back to the other farm house to get the car (which had air conditioning) to head to the city where we could get medical attention.  After we got the car and headed to Chillicothe Missouri the car overheated. This was in the early 70’s so no it wasn’t twitter, or Facebook but it was the CB radio. My grandmother got on the CB radio and gave her location and asked for help. Her farming community responded by coming and picking us up. I have no idea who the man was but someone in the community stopped what they were doing to come and pick us up and drove us to the doctors office. By the time we got there I was almost unconscious. I barely remember this man having to carry me into the doctor’s office. This stranger saved my life, a perfect stranger responding to a call for help because he was part of a community. Community is the component most people loose site of as they get all excited about our current social media craze of the Internet. It is however the most important part. It’s great to share videos and links to funny stories but to be able to share a job opening in today’s economic climate is a valuable tool which could help your community and someone personally. So as you move forward trying to figure out social media just remember, if you want to get something from a community be willing to give of yourself freely without regards to how it will help you in the long run.

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