What You Eat Of Those You Love

2014-12-02 · letter vlog · John · 3:00 · watch on YouTube

Topic: Global development (also: Personal life, Pop culture) · mode: Personal essay · tags: heavy topic, community lore

John uses his family's Thanksgiving norovirus, started by his one-year-old daughter, to argue that only cheap rehydration solution separates a funny family story from disaster, so we must keep working to decrease world suck.

What is said

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

00:00:00 — Back on the Paper Towns set; John, Hank, Katherine and their parents all had norovirus over the last 100 hours

• ★ John says he is back on the set of the Paper Towns movie. — 00:00:01 · Paper Towns (film)
• ★★★ John says that over the last roughly 100 hours he, Hank, Katherine and both of their parents had norovirus. — 00:00:01 · Hank Green, Katherine Green, Mike Green, Sydney Green
• ★★ John jokingly calls norovirus's 'superpower' its ability to keep a person on or near a toilet for about 12 to 24 hours. (playful) — 00:00:10

00:00:16 — Side note: why fictional characters never get sick (Captain Ahab with a head cold)

• ★ In a side note John asks why fictional characters never get sick, imagining Captain Ahab with a head cold dragging himself to hunt the white whale. (playful) — 00:00:16

00:00:34 — Who is responsible: norovirus spreads by eating infected poop; Alice as patient zero; we have all eaten the poop of those we love; internet friendships joke

• ★★★ John says norovirus is almost always caught by eating the poop of someone who has it, and that only about .00001 grams is needed. — 00:00:40
• ★★ John names his one-year-old daughter as the family's patient zero: five days before Thanksgiving she woke from a nap and vomited on him, though he did not get sick then. — 00:00:53 · Alice Green
• ★★ John draws the uncomfortable conclusion that, in all likelihood, all of us have eaten the poop of everyone we love. (playful, hedged) — 00:01:02
• ★ John jokes that internet friendships are the best because they are the exception: they do not involve eating each other's poop. (joke) — 00:01:09

00:01:24 — Alice will be OK, but norovirus kills over 200,000 children a year for want of clean water and 50-cent rehydration solution; complexity should not stop us; charities reduce child mortality

• ★★★ John says norovirus rarely kills US children but causes over 200,000 child deaths a year worldwide, mostly for want of clean water and rehydration solution costing about 50 cents. — 00:01:38 · child mortality
• ★★★ John says his daughter got Pedialyte, and that is the only difference between a funny family Thanksgiving story and the greatest personal disaster he can imagine. — 00:01:50 · Alice Green
• ★★ John asks that, whatever we grow up to do, we remember the times everything rested on 50 cents of Pedialyte, refrigerated penicillin or access to clean water. — 00:01:58
• ★★★ John says getting rehydration solution to the children who need it is, like everything in global health and poverty, fiendishly complicated, but complexity should not stop or intimidate us. (hedged) — 00:02:09 · global health
• ★★ John says that despite difficulties and failures, organizations from Save the Children to Water.org to many local charities are helping to decrease child mortality. — 00:02:21 · Save the Children, child mortality

00:02:30 — Heading into P4A season: the world is unjust, but that does not absolve us of responsibility to decrease world suck; apology for the poop; sign-off

• ★★ John says he is not grateful for norovirus, but it is helpful to think about as the community heads into Project for Awesome season. — 00:02:30 · Project for Awesome
• ★★★ John says the world is profoundly unjust and probably always will be, but that does not absolve us of responsibility to face painful problems and try to decrease world suck. (hedged) — 00:02:35 · world suck

Humor (significant)

• Why don't fictional characters get sick? John imagines Captain Ahab with a scratchy throat wanting to stay in his bunk. — 00:00:19

  “human beings will never learn about nature's complete indifference to them, so I guess I'll go to work.”

• Internet relationships are the one exception to eating loved ones' poop, so the next time someone says internet friendships aren't real: — 00:01:13

  “if your construction of reality involves necessarily eating poop, then I'm going to stay right here in my land of fiction.”

• John closes his global-health argument by apologising to Hank for the family outbreak. — 00:02:49

  “I'm sorry that you ate Alice's poop, or possibly my poop; somebody's poop, anyway.”

Threads in this video

• told · Green family norovirus outbreak before Thanksgiving, starting with Alice (2014) — John tells how norovirus went through the family over about 100 hours, starting five days before Thanksgiving (22 November 2014) when his daughter vomited on him; he, Hank, Katherine and their parents all fell ill. (00:00:01)
• restate · Do people get what they deserve, or do luck and privilege decide? — John says only access to cheap Pedialyte separates his daughter's funny illness story from the fate of the 200,000 children norovirus kills each year; the world is profoundly unjust. (00:01:50)
• restate · Do big problems have simple solutions? — John says delivering rehydration solution, like everything in global health and poverty, is fiendishly complicated, but complexity should not stop or intimidate us. (00:02:09)

Mentioned

Central: Alice Green · child mortality · norovirus · oral rehydration therapy

Also: People: Katherine Green · Mike Green · Sydney Green

Projects: Project for Awesome

Works: Paper Towns (film)

Organizations: Save the Children · Water.org

Terms: world suck

Concepts: fecal-oral route · global health · penicillin · water scarcity

Events: Thanksgiving

Characters: Captain Ahab

Products: Pedialyte

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