So tonight we had a bit of drama where we live. Our subdivision is a small set of about 40 houses up top of Big Rock Ridge in our farming community of Duvall in Washington state.  Tonight we had some type of domestic disturbance that involved a potentially armed disturbed 40 something year old male, a manhunt, a lot of panic, and a resolution that at least means no one in our area was hurt.

What flipped me out was the sheer number of direct Twitter messages I got asking if me and Rochto were ok.  I only have like 1800 (TRULY AWESOME) twitter followers but to have 50+ messages of people asking me if everything was ok with us just reminded me of how awesome Twitter is, and really, how good tools on the Internet enable a real sense of community.  We’re fine, and honestly it was just a few hours of nervousness spent upstairs with the alarm on and looking out the window.  We’re privileged in so many ways, our alarm, police force, etc.

Our situation pales in comparison to Darfur, Iraq, etc.  Tonight, a couple of white people were momentarily spooked.

But I can’t help wondering if that level of interest in interconnected lives isn’t the future of curing the larger horrible situations, from the law enforcement angle to the individual looking out the window, to the spreading genocide angle.  Food for thought I suppose.  I get twitter updates all the time on things I can’t impact at all.  But what If we all had the ability to tell everyone who needed to know or could do something, the circumstances.

How long before a tweet says, legitimately, “They’re killing us, please help” Isn’t this the entire point?