If you have’t heard, Om Malik passed away.

People are sharing stories of their graceful encounters with him.

This one is mine.

Back at the beginning of 2021, I set a goal to write 72 blog posts.

I was puttering along, publishing whatever came to mind, mostly figuring that nobody was reading any of it.

But that was ok. The process was therapeutic and it helped clarify my professional thinking, so I kept going.

One day on Twitter I got a DM from someone with the handle @om.

“I don’t know who this is,” I thought, “but damn that is a great handle!”

Then I peaked at the follower count: over 1 million!

“WTF? Who is this???” I thought.

I’d never — then or since — been contacted by someone with such a high profile online.

How was I even on this person’s radar?

I continued on to his message:

Jim I wanted to thank you for your blog. I am neither a developer or a designer but appreciate the web, the open web and in general normal, common sense writing from experts.

I have quietly enjoyed your work — and hope you hit the target of 72 posts in 2021. My highly selfish ask, as I know it will feed my brain good important stuff.

Have a wonderful weekend and a great writing year

I was flabbergasted. Who was this person with such a high follower count saying such kind words and I’d never heard of him?

I quickly went to Google. He had his own Wikipedia.

“Om Malik…tech writer…founded Gigaom!” Ah-ha! I knew Gigaom the company/blog. It shaped a lot of my early exposure to the tech beat. I devoured it. I can still picture the logo in my head!

Now I knew the man behind it. Knowledge unlocked!

I thanked him graciously for taking the time to send a message whose importance seemed incredibly lopsided in my favor.

I quote his message here because I still think about it on occasion. His words then (as well as later ones) continue to lift me up on days when I feel like an imposter. They remind me of the power of a small act of kindness, even within such a vast world wide web.

I still think about his words.

I still think about him.

I’m sure many will for some time.

And that is a legacy.