Is Substack your Emotional Support Network?
Supporting others in their hour of need
Yesterday I read a Note by a Substack writer which said, essentially, “I am feeling really down now because a dear friend is going to die soon, and we are very near the end.”
There were 77 comments.
I read all of them.
I was impressed by the care, concern, and even profundity of many of them. They did not offer solutions, unsolicited advice, or ask intrusive questions. Everyone was appropriate and respectful.
They were thoughtful, considerate, reverent, supportive. The vast majority of them did not know the writer or the dying person.
The writer acknowledged them with sincere thanks.
I thought “in my many years online, I’ve never seen anything like this. 77 strangers coming together to support a stranger in any way they can, knowing there is ‘nothing in it for them’.
Where else do you see such a thing?
You can rail against AI and algorithms if you want, and I know I do, but this is an example of when technology and human nature combine to bring out the best of Humanity. Substack’s tools allowed these 78 virtual friends to meet and commune emotionally at the deepest level. They won’t save the dying person, but they started a movement of combined humanity, which in a way is a supreme tribute to the deceased.
Long may it continue!
I’d love to know your thoughts.
I had a small win on Substack a few weeks ago, nothing dramatic, just a milestone that mattered to me. A friend who has been quietly championing me this whole journey showed up with coffee in real life to celebrate it, no reason needed, just because she actually cared. That kind of thing still surprises me every time it happens here. There is something about this particular corner of the internet that still feels like people showing up for people. Long may it continue, indeed. 🤍
John, this is lovely. I have witnessed this too — Substack becoming a place of real emotional support in a world where so much connection has become less face-to-face.
What moved me most is that no one was trying to fix, advise, or intrude. They were simply bearing witness with kindness.
I have seen so much tenderness in this space. Long may that continue.