162,519 Views--Distraction or Inspiration?

The United Stated and the world, celebrated the 50th anniversary of the first Lunar landing this week--myself included. The Twitter snip above reminded me of the excitement I felt watching the various launches-landings-splash downs in grade school. I never wanted to be an astronaut, but I admired the beauty of the concept and sheer determination that made the space program a success. 

INSPIRED by the NASA tweet, I retweeted it with a comment meant to generalize my warm and fuzzy feelings about those childhood memories of watching the televised launch to splashdown cycle. I generally retweet things that are interesting to me. So do millions of others. I typically get a LIKE or REPLY from within my limited Twitter community. But, dang if this tweet didn't explode like a supernova! (Don't send me a correction if there is something scientifically off about that simile.) As you can see below as of 8:00 o'clock this morning, it had over 162,519 views. That was when I deleted the tweet.

The tweet was also picked up by NASA as part of a Moment. With 42 Retweets and 353 Likes, I can see how that number grew so quickly. My notifications blew up and I spent all day wallowing in my 15 minutes of fame. Then the Replies started coming in. That's where the DISTRACTION part of this post comes into play. The first twitterer, bless his heart, reminded me that this was in July, school was out. Duh! That was not the point of my tweet, I thought to myself. So I replied to him that I was encapsulating my awe of the program and there was no need to be so literal, thank you very much. 

Then it hit me. Literal may be it for some folks. Either that or they just delight in pointing out their impressions of other people's mistakes. Or, as the other replies indicated--people have agendas. I suppose that should not surprise me. We all have agendas. In addition to replies from genuine well-wishers from across the globe, and Literal Lou I noted above, I've categorized Twitter replies into my own lexicon of personality types:

Mistake Mongers

Mistake Monger Minions

Comical Cathys (my favorites)

Encourager Erics

I'm a Bot Bobbys

Trolls

MeToo Marys 

Anti-Trumpers (regardless of the topic)

Anti-Anti-Trumpers

Way-Out Theres

 Patriots

Conspiracy Theorists

Being the optimistic introvert that I am, I decided the tweet had to go. It was too distracting and I did not want the negatives in the reply stream taking away from the significance of the celebration. Plus, I'm positive my one tweet will not be missed in the vast Twitterverse. So, I made snips for reference then I gave myself a 10 second countdown to self-destruct. I hit the DELETE key. Poof! Distraction vanquished-Inspiration back out front, where it belongs. 

To the 

dedicated

 analytical

determined

forward-thinking

visionary

men and women behind the United States space program,

Thank you, and Happy 50th.