For over a year I have been outspoken about the concept of flagging and especially since the flag wars started.  It was a lonely position to hold as the vast majority of people here did not agree with my views on how violent flagging actually is.  

I did some checking this morning and it seems like the flag wars are over, though there is still some flagging taking place.  It appears that some of the key participants of the flag war have decided to power down and leave, while others withdrew and went about their day.  

![image.png](https://files.steempeak.com/file/steempeak/wwf/a0g7BCX4-image.png)
Public Domain

The fact that the level of flagging seems to have significantly diminished brings great joy to my heart.  Seeing people leave brings great sadness.  Nothing positive and prosperous ever comes from war and I hope people learned from the experience.  A lot of people got hurt as a result of the conflicts and I believe it had a net negative impact on the steem blockchain community as a whole.  

But I feel like this may actually turn around.  My spirit tells me that this blockchain needed this conflict to shake things up and bring a level of maturity to the community.  I get the sense that we are now on a recovery, especially now that the price of steem has dropped to nearly 20 cents US.   Is it possible that the exodus of people is partially to blame for the low price and the high liquid steem available for others to purchase?  Lots of people selling steem would result in prices like this!

What ever the reasons, I anticipate the price to start turning around over the next few months and make an astonishing recovery.  The energy of the blockchain has shifted considerably over the last six months and I'm looking forward to witnessing prosperity returning to the blockchain, as people learn that it is best to cooperate in peace for the benefit of all!

As for me, my health continues to be a challenge, but I also feel that this is about to change.  I've made some significant changes that should help reverse the slow slide in my health.  I'm focused on writing as that is about the only thing I can do right now and I appreciate the support from my followers and fans.  Hitting a reputation of 68 took over six months and each level gets harder and harder to obtain.  

I'm currently ranked #1316 in regards to reputation, #1005 for posts that have been resteemed by others, #1529 for payouts and #1527 for the amount of upvotes that I received from people like you!  In a community that has 1.2+ million accounts and over 72,000 active users, I'm proud of the performance that I'm able to demonstrate on this blockchain.  That places me in the top 1.8% of the active bloggers on this blockchain and 1/10 of 1% of all the accounts.  I'm honoured!  Thank you.

During my illness I had to power down in order to pay bills.  It was one of the most difficult and heart wrenching choices to make on this blockchain.  I was a dolphin at one point and able to help sooo many people.  My goal is to build my account back up so that I could then start helping others as I once did with my Stewards of Terra Mater program.

![image.png](https://files.steempeak.com/file/steempeak/wwf/wCTORr7q-image.png)
Source: steempeak.com analysis feature

Ironically, it was this time last year when I started the power down, but as you can see, I'm slowly recovering my influence on the blockchain.  My optimism about the price of steem comes when I reflect on what is going on in the markets.  

![image.png](https://files.steempeak.com/file/steempeak/wwf/fV0woVKK-image.png)
Steem price (3 months) (https://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/steem/) 

Over the past three months we have seen steem drop like a rock against the US dollar and Bitcoin.  

![image.png](https://files.steempeak.com/file/steempeak/wwf/j1fZQIAR-image.png)
Bitcoin price (3 months) (https://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/bitcoin/)

![image.png](https://files.steempeak.com/file/steempeak/wwf/nl8k79uT-image.png)
Gold price (2 months)

I see gold and other commodities going up as the financial systems continue to crumble and the wars take their toll on people around the world.  Just as things settled down here on the blockchain, we have yet to witness it happen in the real world.  I feel that the time is coming when the financial and economic systems of the world will crash and when that happens, steem will take a leadership roll in the recovery.  That is why it is absolutely critical that we get this platform ready for that time.  We managed to end the wars here, time to do the same out there!

I have a feeling that the witnesses are on the right track and I'm looking forward to HF21 and how it will impact the economics of the blockchain but also make it enticing for other people to join us in this community.  Now that the violence has subsided, it is safer for people to join and prosper.  We must maintain the peace for this to happen.  

I'm optimistic that the low prices will not last long and I encourage everyone to hang in there and ride the storm.  Things are going to get VERY interesting over the next 6 - 12 months!