A Movement That Became a Wave, and Then a Tsunami

And this is how communities become the change

A couple of weeks ago, Winston created a challenge that was inspired by the rule he created for his publication, Coffee Times.

The rule is that you have to give a shout out to a fellow writer and highlight one of their stories. But some writers were not happy about the rule and argued with the editors against including it in their submitted draft stories.

Rather than trying to fight a corner, Winston did something pretty ingenious and created a challenge to any writer out there, to write something to share why they are either PRO or ANTI the shout out movement.

He had no idea what was about to happen next.

His notifications exploded and suddenly his name, his publication’s name, and the Coffee Times Shout Out Movement were plastered all over publications across Medium.

People were clapping as they had never clapped before, and the word on the street was that the Shout-Out Movement was a hit.

From his movement, he created a wave which became a tsunami, and the stories keep on circulating.

Now, we are on the final run until the end of the contest, during which we are being encouraged to read all of the entries and vote on our favourite. Here is the full list of 48 finalists, where you can read all the participating stories. Voting takes place via this form.

Did I enter? Of course — the subject was an easy one to write on because I believe that community is everything. We lean on one another to lift ourselves, and we rise by lifting others.

You can read the full story here:

As for casting my vote, I am currently undecided. While I still have not eliminated more than a handful, I wanted to share two great pieces that really moved me. They made me smile, and resonated somewhere deep within.

The first is by Gaurav Jain. I loved the story he told, of an amazing individual who was to be awarded the Nobel Prize and nearly allowed the opinions and egos of others to stop her from standing up proudly as the incredible human that she was and attending the award ceremony. It was the voice of someone who not only saw beneath the opinions that overshadowed her, but was willing to stand against the status quo and tell her how brilliant he thought she was.

The second is by Tamil who writes with such a sense of beauty that I am moved simply by the way the words flow across the page. And I love the way in which she expresses the power of kindness.

Personally, I am going to sit in this for another day, but I would love to encourage others to check out all the stories and, if you feel drawn to, to cast your vote.

And what about you? Do you like giving and receiving shout outs?

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Thanks for reading! Here are some more of my brain’s conversations with itself for you to enjoy: