Thursday, January 29, 2009

Where the Hell is Matt?

Keeping in the spirit of positive thinking and Winer's foray into the world of digital blogging, I decided to share something with the Gentle Readers that makes me happy when I'm feeling a little sad. A little video that picks me up when I'm feeling down. A simple short that turns my frown up-side down. I have one more, but I'm not going to say it.

(I've embedded the video below. However, I strongly suggest cueing up the HD Version and letting it load. I'll write a little more for you while you wait. Or you could click around, go crazy, read other posts. Or, of course, do what you want. I can't stop you. Yet.)



Many of you have already met Matt. But, for the Gentle Readers who haven't I'll provide a short introduction:

Matt was a video game programmer who, concerned that he was missing out on the many things life had to offer, quit his job and started traveling the world until he ran out of the money he'd saved. On his journey, he posted videos on the internet to show his family and friends the places he traveled, what he was doing there, and that he was still alive. Some of his videos featured him doing his own dance, which other people ended up finding and laughing about. These other people also included Stride Gum, who decided to fund for him another trip around the world so long as he kept posting these videos of himself. Two years later, what started as a personal journey snowballed into the product you see above: a heartwarming ode to the unity of the human race. (For more information, click the link above)

The great thing about this video is its simplistic core concept - a celebration of the differences and similarities between all people. We, as human beings, get extremely caught up in what makes us different and what sets us apart - particularly to the exclusion of others. Be it elitism ("I'm better than you"), religion ("My God's better than your God"), gender (self-explanatory), race ("You people"), social groups ("Dork!"), romance ("You don't love them like I do"), sports ("Boo!"),  or even restaurant patronage ("Dominoes? Really?"), many are obsessed with finding support from people who might think and feel like we do at the expense of people who don't. In our rabid searchings for belonging, acceptance, and confirmation of our beliefs , we often forget to acknowledge that human beings really aren't that different from one another, that the "other" really isn't so, that we often have more in common than less.

I admit I'm an individualist at heart and that the unique differences from one person to the next is what makes them interesting. But, I also acknowledge that the world could be a far better place for all of us if we could settle down about the variances and start looking at what's the same. I know it sounds a little corny, but I guess this video's just a little slice of that for me.

PS - at 0:04, check out the goat!

9 comments:

Jason Heat said...

Having read this post, the unpublished rough draft still on the super secret writer's forum confuses me SO much.

Ozkirbas said...

How did Winer DO that?

Unknown said...

I am familiar with this video and I dig it well enough. But I deeply appreciate everything else about this post. You took many, many words out of my mouth.

Thanks.

zzz said...

SORRY!

I meant to make a comment about your post IN YOUR POST before you even posted... (it made sense to me) - turns out not only was I wrong about the topic, but I somehow hijacked your post and forced you to post elsewhere, making me a douchebag for being both wrong AND all-too-powerful apparently.

so, yeah, sorry. eeek.

Jason Heat said...

that's kind of amazing, really

Stephen said...

There's a video related to this one on YouTube in which matt explain how he got all of those people to dance in his video.

Alex said...

John Ozkirbas, I heart you. A lot.

jackieeee said...

Thanks for this John! I loved the video. definitely brought lots of smiles.

Unknown said...

This might be the best thing that's ever happened to me this week. Probably mainly because of your post beneath it. But also because of the video and its inherent awesomeness.