NPR’s Scott Simon is currently doing something that some may call inappropriate, and others may call brave. Whatever the case, it’s inarguably fascinating, and at times heartbreaking.
Simon is currently live-tweeting what seem to be his mother’s final days as she lies in an ICU bed. Between tweets praising the ICU nursing staff, lamenting missed opportunities, and doling out incredible insight, Simon is doing something that I’ve never seen done on Twitter. He’s making it feel more human that it’s ever felt before.
Of course, it’s Simon and his mother than are the real human elements here. Twitter is just a medium – a delivery system for everything Simon is saying. But I tell you guys, it’s powerful. It’s not inappropriate, it’s not in bad taste, and it’s not outside the purview of “what Twitter is for.”
This is precisely what social media was made to do.
From the heart-wrenching:
Mother cries Help Me at 2;30. Been holding her like a baby since. She's asleep now. All I can do is hold on to her.
— Scott Simon (@nprscottsimon) July 29, 2013
To the funny:
Was my mother saving this line? My family flies in. My wife & I joke about me sleeping in the ICU ("All the beeps! Can't –
— Scott Simon (@nprscottsimon) July 29, 2013
-you med people keep it down?") Tell my mother I'll see my wife downstairs, back in 10. Mother says, "Have a quickie!"
— Scott Simon (@nprscottsimon) July 29, 2013
And the beautiful:
Mother asks, "Will this go on forever?" She means pain, dread. "No." She says, "But we'll go on forever. You & me." Yes.
— Scott Simon (@nprscottsimon) July 28, 2013
This is truly something. It’s making waves on Twitter, as it should:
Practically crying at my desk reading @nprscottsimon's live-tweeting of his mother's death. Sounds gauche, isn't -painfully loving & poetic.
— LauraWhitney Bruskin (@elwhit) July 29, 2013
Go read @nprscottsimon feed for the last 3 days, then blow your nose and call your mother. #allgoodthoughts
— Jim Fullerton (@jefullerton) July 29, 2013
If you want to be reminded of faith and humanity in the face of certain tragedy, follow @nprscottsimon.
— Scott Lerman (@LermanScott) July 29, 2013
Enough of me talking. Go follow @nprscottsimon right now.
I am not sure my mother understands Twitter or why I tell her millions of people love her–but she says she's ver touched.
— Scott Simon (@nprscottsimon) July 28, 2013