I believe we've all seen our fair share of threads and whatnot by people who have lost their faith in the human species, or some jumble of words to the same effect.
Well, just to inject some optimism into your eyeballs, what things have happened that make you look at the human race, tousle it's hair and say "D'aww, you just want to be loved, don't you?"
Well, just to inject some optimism into your eyeballs, what things have happened that make you look at the human race, tousle it's hair and say "D'aww, you just want to be loved, don't you?"
It actually starts with a youtube comment.
First off, I'll introduce StoryCorps in case you haven't heard of them. It's a brilliant group that has dedicated itself to listening to and recording the stories of interesting people around the world - Anything from a grieving parent, to lovers a world apart who met by e-mail, or fond memories of a childhood teacher. All of their videos are on youtube, and they are quite emotional... Bring kleenex.
Anywho, there was this one video called Germans in the Woods. It was the sad tale of a War Vet, still haunted by the memory of killing a German soldier. The man has since passed on, and he claimed that he still lost sleep over the memory of that kid.
I was moved by it, as most people would be, and that made me all the more irked to find the top-rated comment. Now I'm not a religious man, and I dislike the idea of religion because it seems illogical, but I understand that not everyone's like me and Religion is important, so I'm tolerant.
This top rated comment addressed the war veteran. It said something along the lines of "Sir, I'm sure that when you went to heaven, the man you killed greeted you as an angel and forgave you in embrace."
Now, something about that really bugged me. Believe what you want and whatnot, but I couldn't bear to think that this carefully preserved story should be tarnished by a viewer who just couldn't bear to face that there could be something with a sad ending in life. No, something inside me said, it wasn't all fine and dandy when he went to heaven. It was a sad story, and it's our job to learn from it, not staple on a hollywood ending to soothe our own minds. There's no progress if we can't admit there was a problem.
And I didn't like seeing someone use Religion that way, because I'm sure it can be applied in much better ways. Anywho, I made a comment encapsulating my thoughts because otherwise they'd just rattle around in my head.
I returned later, prompted by someone who'd replied to my comment placing a message in my inbox and I found that my comment had received enough likes or votes or whatever to have replaced it as top comment.
I dunno, I mean I don't really care for getting top comments, but this made me feel good.
Whether I was right in my argument or not is irrelevant - In supporting my little rant people seemed willing to acccept a harsh truth in order to combat something.
The fact that those kinds of people exist, hell they even exist on YOUTUBE of all places, made me feel all fuzzy and warm.
(Not going to post the video but google it if you want - In fact, I advise it.
First off, I'll introduce StoryCorps in case you haven't heard of them. It's a brilliant group that has dedicated itself to listening to and recording the stories of interesting people around the world - Anything from a grieving parent, to lovers a world apart who met by e-mail, or fond memories of a childhood teacher. All of their videos are on youtube, and they are quite emotional... Bring kleenex.
Anywho, there was this one video called Germans in the Woods. It was the sad tale of a War Vet, still haunted by the memory of killing a German soldier. The man has since passed on, and he claimed that he still lost sleep over the memory of that kid.
I was moved by it, as most people would be, and that made me all the more irked to find the top-rated comment. Now I'm not a religious man, and I dislike the idea of religion because it seems illogical, but I understand that not everyone's like me and Religion is important, so I'm tolerant.
This top rated comment addressed the war veteran. It said something along the lines of "Sir, I'm sure that when you went to heaven, the man you killed greeted you as an angel and forgave you in embrace."
Now, something about that really bugged me. Believe what you want and whatnot, but I couldn't bear to think that this carefully preserved story should be tarnished by a viewer who just couldn't bear to face that there could be something with a sad ending in life. No, something inside me said, it wasn't all fine and dandy when he went to heaven. It was a sad story, and it's our job to learn from it, not staple on a hollywood ending to soothe our own minds. There's no progress if we can't admit there was a problem.
And I didn't like seeing someone use Religion that way, because I'm sure it can be applied in much better ways. Anywho, I made a comment encapsulating my thoughts because otherwise they'd just rattle around in my head.
I returned later, prompted by someone who'd replied to my comment placing a message in my inbox and I found that my comment had received enough likes or votes or whatever to have replaced it as top comment.
I dunno, I mean I don't really care for getting top comments, but this made me feel good.
Whether I was right in my argument or not is irrelevant - In supporting my little rant people seemed willing to acccept a harsh truth in order to combat something.
The fact that those kinds of people exist, hell they even exist on YOUTUBE of all places, made me feel all fuzzy and warm.
(Not going to post the video but google it if you want - In fact, I advise it.
. Maybe I'm not cynical enough yet, but I see no problem in the human species significant enough to care about. Yeah we're not perfect, but that in itself is a perfection.
