Friends,
I am tired. Very very tired. This last 3 years has been a nonstop up and down of pride and joy, heartbreak and failure, happy tears and sad tears, a myriad of successes and two catastrophic failures that make my heart wrench just thinking about them. From failed attempts to onboard team members to interviewing some of the worlds most amazing and incredible talents, the pendulum swings quickly… and as I reflect, I realize that the success is shared but the failures are mainly of my own accord. A lot of you know that I work on this project with every moment of spare time I have. I still have a very important day job that I need to maintain to support my young growing family. I do this all for my kids. During WAGMI szn, it’s easy to let the adrenaline push through the fatigue. The reality is that, at some point, we all need to step away and take a break and come June, I will be away for a while. I am still looking for help especially on the media and news side. In the interim, I’ve been feeling nostalgic. I’m addicted to movie cliches and quotes and the given state of the market has me self-reflecting on many of the flaws of our current state. I present to you a manifesto inspired by Camerons Crowes manifesto in Jerry Maquire:
The Tokens We Hold and Do Not Share: A New Vision for Our Digital Space
As I sit here, surrounded by the soft glow of a thousand screens, I’m confronted by an undeniable, somewhat melancholic truth: The NFT space is failing us. Not in its technology, nor in its novelty, but in the very core of what it was supposed to represent – a sense of community, the democratization of art, and the shared joy of discovery. Instead, it has been increasingly drowned by a relentless wave of monetary pursuits, leaving behind the warmth of relationships in the cold rush of profits.
We trade and trade, we buy and sell, our eyes on the price, our fingers on the pulse of the market. In our frenzy, have we not lost the essence of the value that brought us together in this digital frontier? The community, the friendships, the shared thrill of supporting creators and cherishing their creations?
In our relentless pursuit of profit, the focus has shifted from the soul of the artwork to its potential for appreciation. The NFT space was meant to be a haven for creatives, a sanctuary where art could thrive, unfettered by the constraints of traditional systems. Yet, we’ve reduced it to a high-speed chase of who can get the rarest, the most valuable, the most profitable token.
Remember, my friends, the blockchain was not meant to chain us to the crude metrics of material gain. It was designed to free us, to grant us access to a brave new world where every token, every pixel, every byte pulsated with a unique story, a personal connection.
Let’s not forget why we stepped into this world of NFTs. Not to lose ourselves in the frantic search for the next big thing, but to find in this digital space a canvas for creativity, a platform for artists, a community that shares, appreciates, and grows together.
“We’ve become collectors of profits, not patrons of art. We’ve become dealers in a marketplace, not members of a community.”
As we move forward, let’s shift our gaze from the glowing price ticker to the radiant artwork, from the rising graphs to the ascending creativity. We need to return to the essence, to what attracted us to this incredible technology – a sense of belonging, shared experiences, and the simple joy of discovery.
In the end, what’s the value of a token if it doesn’t bring a smile to our face, a thrill to our heart, or a connection with a creator, a fellow collector? Let’s make our collections a mosaic of memories and friendships, not just an array of figures and gains.
Let’s focus less on the profits and more on the people, less on the gains and more on the friendships, less on the business and more on the bonds. It’s time to redefine our values, reshape our vision, and revive the community spirit in the NFT space.
It’s time to truly collect. It’s time to truly connect. It’s time to restore the heart and soul to our digital world. And in doing so, perhaps, we will find that the true value of our tokens lies not in their market price, but in the friendships we forge, the artists we support, and the communities we build.
“After all, isn’t the richest collection the one that echoes with the most laughter, resonates with the most stories, and reverberates with the most heartbeats?”
That is the future of our digital space. That is the future we should strive for.