Hi Jesse. What a powerful testimony you share, thank you.

I came across your having the misfortune of being trolled by one who is clever and enjoys using the cleverness to bait others. I am hopeful that you can leave them to their own devices and not allow them to suck you into their pools of desperation. Sadly, the person you came to the defense of revealed the hate in their heart that allows for the same generalizations as those who baited her. None of this will change unless we leave them to gnash their teeth and we join together finding common ground DESPITE their attempts to spark hatred and fear within us. I sense by the way you handle yourself this is also a potential swirling within you, so hopeful you do not take my words as butting in where they don't belong.

I am sorry for your loss of your friend Wilfred. True friends are a rare treasure, and he lives on in the choices and manifestations you bring to the rest of us.

Welcome to Steemit. I plan on writing a how to soon for newer members, but have a few tips I would like to share with you.

Find like minded individuals who share interests, and comment on their blogs and on others comments on those blogs. Don't horde your upvotes, even though they are dust right now. Vote on posts (not comments) until you get above the dust threshold which is .02. If you want to grow a strong foundation here, grow your Steem Power here as quickly as you can. Everything grows from it and one day you will have the possibility of real financial freedom if you tend to it as you would a fine garden. Leave others to their drama, and focus on bigger pictures.

There are several communities that are focused on helping new members grow their accounts here. They are:

https://steemit.com/steem/@steemcommunity/250-new-minnows-event-update-and-list-of-accounts-to-support

That is a witness account run by Hive account@paulag and Hive account@abh12345.

Another great project is ran by Hive account@thedarkhorse. He has been delegating to people, and also runs the payitforward weekly competition.

You can find his competition here: https://steemit.com/@pifc

If you get involved in the communities there, you will be able to strengthen your foundation here and find many great hearted people who care about you strengthening the community.