Mister Rogers says that when terrible things happen, to look for the helpers.
Terrible things are happening. I’m upset. And I’m angry. And I’m so sad.
While I am looking for the helpers, I am also doing my best to be a helper.
I have to be honest: when a domestic terrorist organization, created and unleashed on us by our own government, are terrorizing, tear-gassing, kidnapping, and murdering with impunity, the way I help feels pretty pointless.
It feels woefully inadequate to me, but I entertain, I tell stories, I help you recover your hit points. It’s what I know how to do, and it’s what I do best. And I keep reminding myself that if I can make something that helps someone else create the space I have when I read a book or listen to an album, or whatever I’m doing to rest, then I have to do that. I can’t not do that. This is my purpose. I entertain, especially when it feels like entertaining is less important than something other people need entertainment to get a break from doing.
I want to be crystal clear: I am not comparing myself to anyone, or suggesting that what I do is equivalent, but we all do what we can, right? I’m doing my best, I think.
What I do right now, and what I hope to do until I retire, is tell you stories that help you create a bit of safe space to just … be … for a minute, a place where you can recover some hit points, while you listen. Today, I went to the studio, and told you a story that you will hear next week. I was so grateful to have a break of my own. I loved doing this story. It was so satisfying to focus on how I chose the narrator’s emotional point of view, to find my own narrative pace, to notice something in the narrative that I hadn’t, before. To feel that indescribable thing performers only feel in our bodies when we perform.
It was a privilege and a blessing, all made possible by authors who said yes, a team of people who believe in me, and so many people I will never meet, who trust me with their time and attention, week after week.
I am so grateful. I will continue to do my best.
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I appreciate you! I’m doing my best as well. As much as I want to get out and get in the faces of our oppressors, I know I’d be a liability in any situation like that. So I boost the works and words of those more capable. I listen to the Black and Indigenous communities who have the blueprint for this situation. I contribute what I can to mutual aid to protect the most vulnerable in this current hellscape. And it feels like I should do more.
You don’t have to be a Social Justice Warrior, you can be a Social Justice Bard, telling tales of hope and inspiration. We all need those.
Thank you Will. I hope we are all doing what we can. It is all so horrible and I often lose heart, but it does help to know that good people like you are in there pitching.
Thank you, Wil. Thank you for reminding us to do our best; whatever that may look like.
Keep on doing what you are doing. You make a positive difference….
Your stories are a lifeline in this horrible nightmare. I re listen to yours and Levar Burton Reads as what seems my only way to turn off my brain to sleep – thank you. You matter.
I truly appreciate you Wil!! Thank you for being yourself and helping others in the process!
I want you to know how grateful I am to read your words. I am also grateful for you, Wil Wheaton. I met you and Anne on the JoCo Cruise a couple of times and you were so nice to me. Thank you! ❤️
I so appreciate what you do Wil. It’s Storytime (and several of your audiobooks) have been such a refuge for me. I don’t know what I’d do without that bit of escape. So yes. You are a great helper! Thank you!!
Thank you Wil, it helps, it really does
Wil, I’m awkward at entering comments…but please know that you are absolutely a helper. I thoroughly enjoy your readings, and (don’t laugh) I keep ‘Still Just a Geek’ on my phone to have a listen when I need a boost and/or a smile. Thank you 🙂
Thank you for your kindness and ALL of you your help! 🙂
Heart broken. Furious. Despondent. Heart broken. These are the feelings I’m cycling through after the latest horrific news coming out of the U.S. Thank you for being a light in the darkness. Thank you for safe spaces. May we all be safe places for one another. May our light push back the darkness.
I remember learning years ago in an American history class that child actor Shirley Temple was very popular, not just because she was talented, but because her movies cheered people up during uncertain political and economic times. That always stuck with me.
We can’t all be first responders or essential workers, but if we can create joy for ourselves or for other people, then that’s still a form of positivity that the world really needs.
Thank you for being a healer
You are most honest and real person I know. More actors and people of influence need to follow your lead. The world be better for it. Keep up the good work.
Thank you for reminding us to look for the helpers—as well as to be one.
Wil thank you for being a helper! No one can do everything, but everyone can do something. Your something matters.
We can all take any help that anyone can give to help us stay strong and not be discouraged.
This is super important, what you do. I am one of those people who find it very hard to get the bad news out of my head, and out of my body. Finding entertainment that allows me release from all the bad things, even if just for a few minutes or an hour, is literally invaluable. It’s a vital tonic. Thank you.
I had a hard day, after a year of hard days. I was feeling like nobody understands this feeling I have, this complete loss of a sense of safety. What you wrote helped me. I’m a nationalized citizen that has been here for 33 years. I live in constant fear and just thank you for being a helper and entertaining. The distractions are what keeps me from falling apart.
I feel this in my deepest heart. Thank you. You matter to me.
❤️ you’re an awesome person Wil!!!
Thank you !!!!
Storytellers have always been humanity’s greatest gift. We encourage, educate, warn, and provide relief. Please continue doing so. And for all those ‘crazy aunts’ and ‘talkative uncles’ who are the family storytellers, the neighborhood grannies and curmudgeonly pops who keep the local stories going, please keep talking and sharing. Keep our history and humanity alive!
Thank you. This was a healing post to read just at this exact moment in time. You are a blessing.
Thank you, Wil, for shining your light into the darkness. It helps more than you know.
Wil. Thank you so much for posting and helping us through these horrible, dark days in the country. Please know that you are making a difference for us and we greatly appreciate all that you do. We all need our beacons of light and you definitely are one.
Thank you.
YOU ARE A GLIMMER. I need glimmers. We need glimmers.
WE ARE ALL NEIGHBORS. what is happening is NOT ok. It is ok to feel all the feelings.
I’m sorry I’ve been busy and haven’t been able to listen to more than 3 new storytimes yet but I hope your numbers are good. KEEP FUCKING SHINING.
Wil, please don’t underestimate the importance of what you do. I have to walk into a classroom tomorrow and act as though everything is okay when it most definitely is not. That’s a little bit easier for me to contemplate having read what you wrote today. Thanks for being a helper.
Your voice is so calming. During these turbulent times I turn to my collection of books you’ve narrated and it calms me. You ARE a helper through and through.
Exactly. We can’t fix everything, we can’t forget we have strengths. Double down on your strengths. Double down on your chosen battles. Distraction is the secondary enemy that hides behind horror.
Thank you, Wil. Every bit helps.
Thank you, Will. I think that’s the only thing I can say.
You have helped me so much on my personal journey (I hope that didn’t sound weird, lol). I’m a trans guy, a nerd, really anxious, and I’m going through puberty. Kind people like you make me really happy. Your texts here on your blog and your posts on other networks, like Instagram, Tumblr, etc., seem to make me feel much better. I thank you so much for being the kind and inspiring guy you are today.
Joy and happiness still exist in the world. People quietly doing good works exist in the world. We can all be the helpers for each other. Each little bit we contribute is important to someone else. Thank you for putting your stories out into the world, they are a bright spot when the world is dark.
I sincerely look forward to the release of each new story. During the off weeks, I go back and have another listen to a my favourites.
There are many reasons I look forward to it, but not least is the fact that I know that any story you read is not going to involve any discrimination or unkindness – it’s a safe space. I’ve followed your work long enough to be very certain of that.
I don’t have a particular skill, but I will always be a helper through simply being available to listen to anyone who needs it, and by always being kind. Being kind is a super power in itself.
Will , thank you so much .This message is just what we need to hear during these crazy times
in such a cruel world . Thank you for all your help and everything you do its uplifting and inspiring .
We do what we can, we do the good that is in front of us. We use what we have, talents and resources, and all we can do is what we can.
Your smiles on social media, your posts, your sharing of support and care, all of those are putting good into the world. Good adds up. It is quieter than all the bad that is roaring around us, but it is not nothing and the world is better for it.
Hang in there <3 Things are dark and we just have to keep fighting.
Thank you. You are helping!
Thank you, Wil, for a moment of peace today. I am otherwise spending it fretting horribly. Someone I love is in a dangerous place right now and they are part of more than one vulnerable group. I am literally fighting to keep this side of total hysteria.
I feel so powerless but I am full of rage and sorrow and so much worry… I could so easily shatter.
If we all did what we could, there wouldn’t be much left undone. You’re doing your part. I really appreciate Story Time. It is a balm for heartache.
One of my favorite scenes from Strange New Worlds was when engineer Hemmer says tells the young Ensign Uhura–“What is is you were meant to do? I fix things. ” Then go do it–thats what you were created to do. Clearly you have followed Hemmer’s advice!
I was having a whirl of emotions and spiriting when a discord group I’m in posted this in their Hope core section:
The rage you are feeling comes from the same place inside your heart as the love.
This is why you refuse to accept a world where cruelty reigns and the fire consumes all.
You have known hope and joy and kindness
like you have known water.
And justice is a river
that demands
you do not give up on it.
– Nikita Gill
Don’t forget many STAR TRACK fans got thew the 19mess, with Wesley ‘s help! Your behind the seams show telling about Enterprise D crew being real life friends. Helped!
Wil, As I said in a previous comment, Keep Up The Good Fight! Stories are life changers. I’m a storyteller. I come from storytellers. And while I might not be known nation wide, or even state wide, I bring people around me with stories. In fact, all of the craziness has made me committed to a story I’ve been sitting on for 30 years. The time has come to write it. Also, speaking of stories, my husband and I decided last summer was a great summer for our daughter to watch Stand By Me. She has been raised on TNG, and so she was excited to see you in this movie. It changed her, and when she asked where’s the girl story like that, we told her to write it. It is now a goal of hers, and you played a part in igniting that vision in her. So, there’s you helping along a 16 yo old girl in Wisconsin.
Wil, what you do and how you uniquely do it IS important. Thank you for sharing your talents, insights and vulnerable truths with all of us. The growth in your followers is proof of the value of your work.
Thanks Wil. Believe me when I say it helps in these dark times. It helps to remind (me at least) that there are brighter moments that need to be held on to while continue to what can be done (albeit not much in my case) to resist despite the feelings that nobody’s listening. You remind me there are others out there like me. There are others who remember that this should NOT be considered normal. Others who recall times that, while not perfect, were at least much more humane that what we are seeing and living though now. I met you recently in Portland at the Rose City Comicon and you were so very gracious when we shared a moment of hurtful memories of childhood and you confirmed that you are indeed as much of a good, compassionate soul as I had believed. They always say don’t meet your heroes but in this case it was a life changing moment. Thank you again.
You’re definitely on the side of the angels, old friend. Thank you, and keep it up. It makes a difference.
Wil, you are the eye of the storm, the calm in the midst of insanity. Keep being the light that shines on and out into the world!
What you are doing helps! Just hearing you in this post expressing your sadness, frustration, and FEELINGS, helps me feel like I am not the only one wishing this nightmare was over. It’s actually more than that, but I don’t know if there are even any words to explain it.
Thank you for everything you do.
Wil , I’m so grateful for your talent and courage. Keep it up, many prayers. James.
I just … thank you so much for being a great helper.