You're wrong. Every little bit helps. And being part of touching even one life... can have amazing ripple effects beyond your wildest dreams.
Need some inspiration? Come with me on the You Tube journey I took yesterday.
First, I somehow happened upon the Vlog Brothers. John is an author of Young Adult fiction (and I want to go read his books now). Hank is... um, I haven't fully figured that out yet. He does web stuff and music stuff, I think. Remember- I'm new to all of this. Anyway, they started this "movement" called Nerdfighters. Basically, it's people who identify with being a nerd on any level who work together to fight WorldSuck- anything that sucks in the world.
I spent a good amount of time on their page, watching videos and fascinated by the speedy dialogue. Because of Hank and John and their awesomeness, I found some really cool things. First, Ze Frank. I feel like an internet newbie for not knowing who this guy is. He does lots of way cool projects- well, he did. I guess he kinda owned the internet for a while and then went pro with representation and such. I have no clue what he's doing these days. But I watched an 18 minute long TED Talk he gave and loved it because it totally captured how I feel about my little bit of blogging- it's all about the connections. He did some projects that made the connections pretty major- and majorly fun.
Today, I spent a little more time obsessing over the Vlog Brothers (turns out John lives in Indy...) and started visiting the YouTube channels they suggest. And I came across The Uncultured Project and a video in which Nerdfighters around the world supported this guy's project (The Uncultured Project) to help a community in Bangladesh that had been broken down by the Cyclone in 2007.
The guy who started UP is... just a guy. He heasn't started a foundation or charity. He's just out there, making a difference, and using social networking to rally support and share experience. Just one guy. Connecting with lots of other people. And making a huge difference. "I'm gonna build a mountain..."
6 comments:
wow - thanks for sharing the Ze Frank clip. I remember going to his site a long time ago and enjoying it but I lost track of what he had been doing.
I looked up the "chillout" song which is a great song. Reminds me of the "Don't Worry Be Happy" song. I shared the song with my daughters on FB. I'll be posting about this.
This is the magical good stuff of the internet.
thanks
I loved the restaging childhood photos. Funny.
I love the little boy in Bangladesh. It reminds me of our Shoshi.
I love it when just your average Joe makes a big difference! I follow a blog by Kelle Hampton. Her 2nd daughter was born with Down Syndrome...for Nella's 1st birthday Kelle put up a fundraiser for NDSS on her blog and ended up raising over $100,000! How crazy is THAT? Then, I also have to give kudos to my niece, Amber. She started a Toy Drive in honor of her brother, Schuyler, who was killed in Afghanistan 2/24/2009. The first year we collected enough toys to completely fulfill the town's Salvation Army requests (almost 400 kids)....this year...over 600 kids had Christmas thanks to Amber's efforts. The average Joe can ALWAYS make a difference!
The Vlog Brothers--[smile]. I discovered them several years ago when someone linked me to Hank's song about the upcoming release of "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows". I know this is off topic, but I LOVE them because the two of them--with their nerdy-hip intelligence and cultural literacy--are the perfect role models for my sons. I LOVE them. And we actually SAW John at the Borders on the north side a couple years ago when he was promoting his book. :-)
And this is Chris. For some reason, it won't let me log in with my user name....
Yes! I love the Nerdfighters!
I've always been fascinated with the way one person really CAN make such a huge difference. Love this post!
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