So a year has passed since I joined tomorrow. I have watched as many who came aboard at the same time and since have dropped off. Some I barely got to know, and others I wish had stayed and wonder what happened to them. Like many, I have felt discouraged at times at the downturn in value accorded to Steem, yet have been blessed as I never viewed it as a short term investment. Mostly the pain has come from being unable to give a higher value to others through my upvote.

The appeal has continued for me, the idea of a gifting economy where one can reward another via an inflation pool. The not so appealing being those who seem not to understand the value of gifting. I am not a fan of coercion against others, and it seems that for some they would force others in how they use their stake.

I have met with much kindness since coming here. Others who have shown me there are those who believe not just in word, but deed as well with the idea of voluntary kindness. The list would be long and boring, but you know who you are. And I appreciate every gesture you have had with me.

My posts are usually of a serious nature. With the aid of other Steemians, at times they have found their way onto Twitter. Getting retweeted 40+ times sometimes, it has been humbling to know that 100K plus people have had my posts show up on their feeds.

Before I get to the math, I will post my numbers from my six month post, for any who would care to make a comparison.

73 posts

1703 comments

Given 2778 votes

Received 3034 votes.

Bought 153.561 Steem

Spent 61 Steem on Delegation so I could give more votes, votes that are beyond the dust threshold.

Donated 52 SBD to the @familyprotection community.

My SP currently sits at 255.807. I am halfway to Minnow status.

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One Year Numbers

• 142 posts

• 2970 comments

• Given 5,354 votes

• Received 11,435 votes

• Bought 288.611 Steem at an average cost of 1.46

• Spent 61 Steem on Delegation so I could give more votes

• Donated 116.194 SBD, 119.404 Steem and another 8.5 Steem to a member of the FamilyProtection group. Some of which was entered into raffles held by one of my heroes here. Twice the raffle was won, giving two other Steemians I nominated a prize of a silver coin.

• My SP currently sits at 1,467.114.

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I Am Grateful For Steem

Grateful to be humbled by the kind hearts I have encountered. Grateful to find others who help me shed my ignorance on so many areas. Grateful that as you can see from my above numbers, I have been afforded the opportunity from this system to give to others MORE than I have invested while still growing my stake 500% of my cash investment. And due to the inflation awarded stake, I gain roughly .08 Steem daily just for placing a 13 week trust in the platform, a reward if you will for believing in the longer term vision here. Of course, much of it has sat there longer than 13 weeks, and will continue to. I grow excited at what growth and giving await us all in my second year here.

Whether this system weathers the storm that it seems to be in, I can’t say. But my actions will continue to be ones that say it will, and support the sustainability and growth of this chain and those in my community who mean so much to me.

In a recent post I made on the mass adoption of Steem, I mentioned Dan creating Steem to lower the hardships of entry. He rightly concluded that the largest challenge crypto has is the barrier of entry when it came to mass adoption. It is my hope in the next year that we will see businesses adopt Steem (not create more coins, but actually use the chain). That we will see people using Steem gift it to others for occasions such as birthdays, weddings, allowances, etc. Each of us can play a part in spreading it around to those who might not normally have gotten into crypto. I mean, if you are going to spend 20/30/50.00 on a gift anyway, and you believe Steem will grow what better gift is there to give anyway?

I look forward to this second year, and am hopeful that I will be able to report this time next year I am a dolphin. Be able to report that others view my kindness as humbling and are inspired to be that for others. Together we can do so many great things together, as many have shown me since coming. Together we WILL do many great things.