Hello Folk,

Late one night back in April I was surfing YouTube and happened upon an IR video page run by none other then KelleyLi31. Now, at the time I didn’t have a clue who this KelleyLi31 was but I loved the concept of her page and creative videos using IR couples. Caught somewhere between artist inspiration and unchained giddiness, I email this KelleyLi31 thanking her for promoting positive IR relationships and introducing her to my site.


On April 12, 2009 KelleyLi31 kicked off a forum thread on “The Sweetest Taboo”, an IR forum to which I now belong, entitled (No Kidding) “Someone sent me a site to share”.


With that simple post my readership went from just over 300 new visitors a day to well over 700. All from a simple post in a single day!!! My book sells took off, my email box was flooded and I was inundated with reader request.


Here’s the rub. In my eyes, I never got a chance to properly thank KelleyLi31 for her friendship. Yes, I thanked her via the forum thread but it didn’t seem like enough. People come in and out of your life without truly understanding the indelible fingerprint they leave behind. And we have become inured to this fact. But being grateful for the kindness of others shouldn’t go unnoticed.

Everyone, I hope, has had someone say “thank you” for an unconscious act on their part. Think back to that feeling of “Really! I had no idea!” that came over you. Needless to say you probably felt a little better about yourself throughout the day. In my opinion, it is when someone points out our random acts of kindness that we began to think about how we treat others on a more conscious level.


My mom is notorious for thanking people. Not in a disingenuous wacky sort of way, rather in an “if-you-feel-it-say-it” manner. We’ve become hardened; unknowingly building protective walls around ourselves, and sometimes forget the enduring impact a simple compliment can inflict yet we can wield a “screw you” with the precision of a seasoned Samurai.


So the next time you see a salesperson with a snazzy shirt, tell them so. “Hey, that’s a nice shirt. The color looks good on ya!” Nine times out of ten, you’ll see their demeanor change. No harm, no foul.


Back on topic. Could I have grown to where I am today without that one forum thread started by KelleyLi31? Most likely however she expedited the process overnight. Today InterracialErotica.net averages chart topping numbers per day and has occupied Google’s number one slot for the search term “interracial erotica” for going on six solid months...stomping over older top ranking sites (to anyone who knows PR rankings, this is a HUGE deal).


To my KelleyLi31: Thank you for your random act of kindness. With your single post you touched the lives of hundreds of people. Thanks to you, IRE.net has a rock solid presence on the web.



Cheers mate!
Tracy