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I Love My Brother

2011-08-03 · letter vlog · Hank · 3:39 · watch on YouTube

Topic: Personal life (also: Nerdfighteria, Projects) · mode: Personal essay · tags: calendar ritual, community lore, heavy topic, fundraising ask, civic or action cta, punishment or challenge

For Esther Day 2011, Hank recalls the promise to Esther and the brothers' 'no L-word' agreement, and argues that love is the most important thing we do and words have power, so people should tell those they love that they love them; he then accepts punishment for a missed video and mentions VidCon.

What is said

The parts of the video and what is said in each (★ — how much it matters to the video).

00:00:00 — Esther Day greeting; who Esther was; the bracelets the brothers wear

  • ★★ Hank opens by announcing it is Esther Day and trying out 'I love you' on John, promising he'll get there eventually. (playful) — 00:00:00 · Esther Day, Esther Earl
  • ★★★ Hank says Esther was an awesome Nerdfighter who did amazing things with her friends; she would have turned 17 today had she not died of cancer. — 00:00:00 · Esther Earl, Nerdfighteria
  • ★★ Hank says Esther is why the brothers always wear their bracelets, sold for $5 at DFTBA.com with all proceeds to the This Star Won't Go Out Foundation, which helps children with cancer and their families. — 00:00:00 · Esther Earl, DFTBA Records, This Star Won't Go Out (charity)

00:00:29 — Bracelet proceeds to This Star Won't Go Out; John's promise to Esther; her choice of family and love; the brothers' no-L-word agreement

  • ★★★ Hank recounts that last year (2010), when Esther was very sick, John promised the brothers would do whatever she wanted on her birthday in perpetuity, and she asked them to talk about family and love every year. — 00:00:29 · Esther Earl, John Green
  • ★★★ Hank says he and John have a long-standing agreement (jokingly 'from birth') not to use the L-word about each other, though Nerdfighteria kept asking why they never say they love each other. (playful) — 00:00:58 · Nerdfighteria
  • ★★ Hank says that when someone you respect is about to die and tells you to do something, you do it. — 00:00:58 · Esther Earl

00:01:27 — What Esther Day is for: love as the most important thing we do; words have power; tell people you love them

  • ★★★ Hank thinks Esther asked for Esther Day a little for herself and for Nerdfighteria, but mostly for the brothers themselves. (hedged) — 00:01:27 · Esther Day, Esther Earl
  • ★★★ Hank thinks Esther, at both the beginning and the end of her life, had a special wisdom: she knew loving each other is pretty much the most important thing we do. (hedged) — 00:01:27 · Esther Earl
  • ★★ Hank argues love is the reason individuals and our civilization exist, and the only reason humans can do marvelous, magnificent things. — 00:01:56
  • ★★★ Hank says John knows Hank loves him without being told, but, as Dumbledore said, words have power, so we must say it so loved ones know viscerally how we feel. — 00:01:56
  • ★★★ Hank tells viewers that this is what Esther Day is about: tell the people you love that you love them so that they know. — 00:01:56 · Esther Day, Esther Earl

00:02:26 — Hank tells Dad and Mom he loves them; asks viewers who they love and how they'll tell them

  • ★★ Hank tells his dad he loves him for being an excellent father who never complains about how weird his sons are, and his mom for being proud of them even when they did weird things. — 00:02:26 · Mike Green, Sydney Green
  • ★★ Hank asks viewers to say in the comments who they love and how they're going to tell them. — 00:02:26

00:02:55 — Hank missed a video and invites punishment ideas; Your Pants hacked; #punishHank; John's medical exception

  • ★★★ Hank admits he missed a video, entirely his fault, so viewers get to punish him and can suggest punishments. — 00:02:55 · Punishment
  • ★★ Hank says Your Pants is still down after being hacked, so ideas go in the YouTube comments or on Twitter with the hashtag punish Hank. — 00:02:55 · YouTube, Twitter
  • ★★★ Hank says John missed a video because he was having his gallbladder removed, so as a medical exception viewers don't get to punish him. — 00:02:55 · John Green, Punishment

00:03:16 — VidCon was awesome: speakers' signed poster to be auctioned at P4A; John's VidCon video on Friday; 'I love you'

  • ★★ Hank says VidCon was totally awesome and shows a poster signed by all the VidCon speakers. — 00:03:16 · VidCon
  • ★★ Hank says the signed VidCon poster will be auctioned at the Project for Awesome, but until then it's his. — 00:03:16 · Project for Awesome, VidCon
  • ★ Hank says he looks forward to John's video about VidCon on Friday, assuming that's what John will make. (hedged) — 00:03:16 · VidCon
  • ★★★ Having put it off since the opening ('John, I will get to you later'), Hank ends the video by telling John 'I love you'. — 00:03:16 · John Green

In the description and comments

  • ★★ In the description Hank asks punishment suggesters to think more 'challenge' and less 'horrible death-defying punishment'. — video description · Punishment

Threads in this video

Where the stories that moved here went next

Mentioned

Central: Esther Day · Esther Earl · love

Also: People: Mike Green · Sydney Green

Projects: DFTBA Records · Project for Awesome · VidCon · Your Pants

Organizations: This Star Won't Go Out (charity) · Twitter · YouTube

Rituals: Punishment

Characters: Albus Dumbledore

Also centred on love: Happy Esther Day! · Lives Made of Love - Esther Day 2016 · Two Love Stories · Uncertain and Afraid · you're bundled up now? wait till you get older. · I L*** Hank

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