The Reply I Almost Threw Away

The Reply I Almost Threw Away

The broken emoji, William Shatner, and the strangest art-launch day I’ve had on X.

I almost threw the reply away. Not because I didn't mean what I wrote—the emoji just wasn't working. 😂 I was replying to a post by William Shatner about Dr. Gabor Maté, whose books and lectures genuinely changed my life. I finally posted: “Dr. Maté's books and lectures changed my life... thank you for sharing this link.” Nothing strategic. No attempt to get noticed. Just something I actually meant.

A few minutes later, my phone lit up. William Shatner had replied to me. William. Fucking. Shatner. 😂 His response was simple: “He is a very smart man.” And suddenly the reply I had almost thrown away was taking off. Fourteen minutes in, it had 1,665 impressions, 8 detail expands, and 2 profile visits. At 18 minutes, it was at 2,357 impressions. By 31 minutes, it had reached 3,658 impressions with 13 detail expands and 2 profile visits. And people were now liking my original reply because Shatner had responded to it.

The timing made the whole thing even more ridiculous because I was simultaneously publishing The Cosmic Blue Collection on my website. The collection was built and live. It had 9 impressions. My reply to William Shatner had 3,658. 😂 For a brief and glorious moment, Captain Kirk was outperforming my art collection. In the end just a few days later- my reply had reached over 51k impressions- which was even more than the original post.

Of course I replied back to him. I didn't suddenly change how I communicate because a famous person had noticed me. I continued talking about Dr. Maté in detail, because that's what I would have done anyway. And that's actually the part of this moment I like most. The interaction wasn't manufactured. I wasn't trying to attract a celebrity's attention or engineer a viral post. I said something genuine, he saw it, and a conversation happened.

Meanwhile, I was launching a body of visionary artwork about healing, transformation, and the things we sometimes understand only years after we've created them. Somehow, the universe—or the algorithm—decided that William Shatner was going to help launch it. 😂

I don't know exactly what made that particular reply take off. I do know that I nearly deleted it because an emoji wasn't working properly.

So, perhaps the lesson is simple:

Don't throw away the reply because the fucking emoji isn't working.

You never know who's going to read it. 🖖😂

 

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