Due to my father-in-law's cancer, the mood is fairly grim these days at Casa MetroDad.
That's why I was pleasantly surprised to get an e-mail today from my wife with the subject heading, "This warmed my heart and put a smile on my face today." Not much puts a smile on my beautiful wife's face these days but when I saw it for myself, I completely understood. Somehow, this touching video speaks to the indomitable strength of the human spirit. It's amazingly uplifting. Few things have ever made me smile and tear up at the same time. I simply can't stop watching it.
See for yourself...
Where the Hell is Matt? (2008) from Matthew Harding on Vimeo.
This video reminds me why I love traveling around the world so much. It's because getting to intimately know people all over the planet always reminds me that, deep-down inside, we're so much more similar than we are different. It's something we should all strive to remember every day.
In a similar way, it also reminds me of why I love blogging so much. Through the power of the internet, the world has become such a smaller place. Ever since I mentioned my father-in-law's cancer, we've received so many incredibly touching e-mails from people all over the world. People from Malaysia to India to Greece have all taken time out of their busy days to express their deepest sympathies and send their warmest thoughts and prayers. I can't even begin to express how much that means to us.
I hope this inspirational video makes your day just as it made ours. And may it remind all of us that, despite all the hate in the world, we're more similar than we could ever imagine.
Peace out.
What's the record for most consecutive viewings of this video? I think I passed #25 half an hour ago. It really is amazing.
My DH and I love to travel and you're right. Seeing this video reminds me of all the fun times I've had meeting strangers around the world while dancing and sharing a beer. It's what life is all about.
Posted by: roxy | June 25, 2008 at 11:46 AM
Inspiring and beautiful. Thank you for sharing that.
Posted by: Princess Katie | June 25, 2008 at 12:29 PM
Wow MD. I think this video is incredibly appropriate right now, especially with the Beijing Olympics just weeks away. Your words were spot on...all 6 billion of us are more similar than we are different. And this video doesn't let us forget how awesome our world is.
Posted by: Family Fantasy Sports | June 25, 2008 at 02:03 PM
Hey MD,
Sorry to hear the news. Hope things start to get better soon. This is a great video getting a lot of play on today show and others.
Thanks for sharing.
Warm Regards,
PurpleMouth
http://purplemouth.blogspot.com/
Posted by: Purple Mouth | June 25, 2008 at 02:33 PM
I've heard lots of people talk about this video today but only you put it into a perspective that I could relate to. You have a way with words, MD.
Hugs to the BossLady. I'm praying for her dad and for all of you.
Posted by: jasmina | June 25, 2008 at 02:43 PM
Hey!! MD
Checked the background score. Its infact bengali poetry, by the Great Bengali poet Rabindra Nath Tagore (Thakur)from West Bengal, India.
The music is so westernized I had trouble making it out initially. Though, I like a music :-))
Posted by: spontaneity and afterthoughts | June 25, 2008 at 03:09 PM
That's so funny, I just posted this on my blog after seeing it on somone else's. It made me cry too. So affirming, so many good things about it. As one guy on the blog commented, 'I fucking love humans. I wish I was one'.
Posted by: Jo | June 25, 2008 at 04:01 PM
for BossLady
Railroad
One day I will write a poem
about my father as a mountain,
and there will be no shame for the dynamite
and the blasted hole, the pickaxes and steam drills
paving their own resolute path,
for the railroad ploughed through his core,
for shattered rocks, for pungent scent of pines.
My father will be a mountain surrounded by wind
that wears him down as slowly as marriage,
as America, as time. But he is still
a man and a mountain: drilled, hammered, alive,
unaware of all who love him from the far track.
--by Ishle Yi Park
Poet Laureate of Queens
Posted by: Georgia | June 25, 2008 at 04:25 PM
What a wonderful video! I was laughing out loud and crying at the same time. I am envious of that guy being able to go to so many countries and meet so many awesome, light-hearted people (the clip of him at the Demilitarized Zone in Korea was hysterical for stoicism of the soldier/official standing beside him).
The best to your family...
Posted by: Fiona | June 25, 2008 at 05:47 PM
Its 6 am here and iam grinning like a monkey...thanks...needed to see something like this to continue believing ....
prayers are with your father in law...
Posted by: tys | June 25, 2008 at 10:14 PM
heh, now I can't stop watching either. The Cape in South Africa where I'm from is there too! :) Needless to say I forwarded to everyone I know. Thanks!
Posted by: nadia | June 25, 2008 at 10:30 PM
beautiful.
all the greatest thoughts to you and your family right now.
Posted by: Yolanda | June 25, 2008 at 11:44 PM
Oh, man. That is awesome. Thanks for sharing that. We all stand to be a little closer to mankind.
Posted by: Matthew | June 26, 2008 at 02:06 AM
That was an awesome video, thank you for sharing it. I'm thinking of you and yours at the moment, and glad that you're able to find some bits of sunshine in the midst of the cloudy times. Here's hoping that happiness returns to the Metro household in due time. Take care bro.
Posted by: Holmes | June 26, 2008 at 09:48 AM
MD,
I was thinking exactly this when I saw the video "...we're more similar than we could ever imagine." I've been to a handful of these places and I've been teary eyed since the first 10 seconds of the video. Not sad, just overwhelmed by how beautiful people can be and how one person's smile, and sense of adventure, can move so many.
I've been so busy working I'm behind on my MD posts. But I know you posted this video and a friend sent it to me through Facebook, so I thought I should watch it. Incredible.
Be well MD.
Posted by: Jrock | June 26, 2008 at 09:56 AM
I played this for my 2 year old and started bawling. He thought I was nuts -- nice. Prayer for your FIL --
Posted by: HCG | June 26, 2008 at 12:38 PM
This video almost made me cry. Thank You! :)
Posted by: Joanne | June 26, 2008 at 02:26 PM
I forwarded your post to everyone I know. They all love the video and your poignant sentiments. Best wishes to BossLady's father. We'll pray for him too.
Posted by: katie k | June 26, 2008 at 05:46 PM
I hope someday I'm rich enough to go to different countries and dance :)
Posted by: Jake | June 26, 2008 at 05:51 PM
You know how to make the world stop for just a moment and see what is truly beautiful. Thanks for sharing something so wonderful.
Posted by: Hygiene Dad | June 26, 2008 at 09:14 PM
Greetings from Singapore! This video is great. It makes you understand that it really is a small world and we all love to dance.
Prayers to your father in law.
Posted by: alice | June 27, 2008 at 12:09 AM
watching this on the late shift, with my baby daughter. thanks. brilliant.
Posted by: mr nice guy | June 27, 2008 at 01:24 AM
This is so great. I've been reading for some time and I love your blog but I really liked this entry. I like how you connected blogging and travel. It's a big world but these days we can be so connected to everyone and everything via internet. And your right, with all the beautiful differences at the heart we're all connected; we're all human. That's palpable in this video.
Posted by: Holli | June 27, 2008 at 09:14 AM
Well said.. it is one world. Prayers!
Posted by: preethi | June 27, 2008 at 01:00 PM
I love Matt! It's also nice to see a couple of cities close to my heart (Seoul, Chicago) on the video.
Posted by: enygma | June 27, 2008 at 01:50 PM
Made my day is the perfect articulation. Thank you.
Posted by: Mom101 | June 27, 2008 at 02:15 PM
Dance is the universal language. Dancing, at least for me, leads to laughing and smiling. How can we hurt others when we're laughing and smiling? Make dance not war.
Posted by: Magpie | June 27, 2008 at 02:28 PM
The only thing better than dancing is...dancing naked!
Posted by: chas | June 27, 2008 at 02:36 PM
If only chaos, madness, hate, hurt, depression, anger, sorrow, violence, racism, etc could be washed away with the symbolic joyfulness this video intends at bringing people to the same tune to harmony, this world would be at peace.
Why this brings tears to a rugged guy like myself is what an inspirational video like this has intended to do.
Thank you, hyung, for sharing this video!
Posted by: andy | June 27, 2008 at 02:55 PM
MD - thanks for the video - it was truly inspirational and we posted on www.coochicoos.com. Also, following up on your "Spiritual? Definitely!..." post, I thought you might be interested in our site at www.kindlejoy.com, where you can share your prayer requests with your friends, family, and the world. My prayers are with you and your family.
Posted by: designdad | June 27, 2008 at 07:35 PM
Darn you, you made me feel an emotion.
That was lovely, thanks for sharing...
Posted by: Manager Mom | June 28, 2008 at 12:04 PM
Very cool video. I love to travel too, and you can just feel the love in that. People have more in common than we think, but we have to let go, act goofy and dance more often. Thanks for sharing this, and I hope all is well with your family.
Posted by: Jeremy (Discovering Dad) | June 28, 2008 at 02:20 PM
Love it!
Everything everyone else says and more!
So can you put it on a loop to hear it again and again?
Posted by: Diana C | June 28, 2008 at 06:41 PM
This afternoon I sat on my daughter's bed and we watched this and laughed heartily and cried like we'd not done in a long time.
I hope your family is doing well. I can't even leave a smartass comment today. Just want to spread joy.
Posted by: Mocha | June 29, 2008 at 12:45 AM
What a glorious, joyful piece. I can see how it could make you smile through tears. Hope you don't mind -- I think I might post it on my blog too.
Posted by: feefifoto | June 30, 2008 at 01:13 AM
Yep, made my day. TOTALLY made my day (and I needed it today). Thank you.
Posted by: winterwheat | June 30, 2008 at 12:27 PM
Wonderful
Posted by: Kady | June 30, 2008 at 01:54 PM
What I enjoy most about your blog is your personal ability to see the bright side of life. It's always inspiring.
Posted by: Linda L. | June 30, 2008 at 02:04 PM
Oh Gosh. ~wipes tears~ Beautiful.
Yes, the internet does make the world smaller. Sending good thoughts to your family.
Love to you all,
Alli
Posted by: Mrs. Fussypants | June 30, 2008 at 06:36 PM
I stood at that EXACT same spot at the Giants Causeway in Northern Ireland last November (at 26 seconds in) - that's so cool!
Posted by: Didi | June 30, 2008 at 07:44 PM
I LOVE, love, love the Where the Hell is Matt videos! This is the best one yet. Thanks for sharing it! Made me cry!
Posted by: Kila | July 01, 2008 at 01:11 AM
MD, thanks for sharing such an inspirational video. I too laughed and teared up simultaneously. Wow.
Posted by: Marci | July 01, 2008 at 12:40 PM
Awesome.
I am saying prayers for your family at this time.
Posted by: 1969 | July 01, 2008 at 01:59 PM
wow - thanks so much for sharing that video. What a small and beautiful world this place really can be...
Posted by: neal | July 01, 2008 at 06:04 PM
Danced with matt at 2:50 in Seoul. He originally went to the 'east gate' instead of the 'south gate', which led us to wonder where the hell he really was. He rearranged another meeting at the south gate again. Strangely enough, it burned down a couple weeks later.
would've been cool if he could've danced with all the mad cow protesters.
Posted by: teeth | July 01, 2008 at 06:07 PM
I really needed that today. Elby watched it with me and she demanded to see it 10 times. I'm thinking about your family!!
Posted by: stefanie | July 01, 2008 at 08:11 PM
What a coincidence... I also posted about Matt's video/website (although indirectly) in my latest blog entry. Guess we full time dads do think in synch sometimes :)
I'm sorry to hear about your dad in law. May God grant you courage and strength during hard times and that he WILL recover soon.
... been a silent reader btw.
Posted by: Abdun | July 02, 2008 at 02:38 AM
The kids and I met Matt Harding and his girlfriend Melissa earlier this year when he was in San Francisco. (Really nice guy and VERY good with kids, my kids still remember him, they get excited when they see his videos and ask if we'll ever visit him.) We missed being part of the San Francisco portion by several minutes due to some traffic and my getting lost. I've been following his blog for the last two years and watch his videos almost every time I look wistfully out the window. They remind me of how beautiful the world is and in the case of this one, how much everyone around the world is pretty much the same.
All that to say, I love this video too and I was inexplicably happy that it cheered Bosslady up. Has she shown it to her father?
Posted by: honglien123 | July 03, 2008 at 01:36 AM
That was AWEsome.
Best wishes for your father-in-law...
Posted by: tracey | July 03, 2008 at 05:32 PM
What a great video! Thanks for sharing!
Posted by: RagingDad | July 03, 2008 at 05:46 PM