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I Love You, Hank. Esther Day 2015

2015-08-03 · letter vlog · John · 1:41 · watch on YouTube

Topic: Nerdfighteria (also: Personal life) · mode: Personal update · tags: calendar ritual, community lore, fundraising ask, civic or action cta, on location

On Esther Day 2015, filming in Agloe, New York, John recalls Esther Earl's holiday of family and friendship love and tells Hank he loves him, crediting Hank's patience and empathy with breaking his spirals of pain and self-involvement.

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; John is in Agloe, New York, a place only sometimes real

  • ★★ On Monday, August 3rd, Esther Day, John says he is in Agloe, New York, though he can't be sure exactly where it is, a place 'only sometimes real'. (playful, hedged) — 00:00:00 · Esther Day, Esther Earl

00:00:17 — What Esther Day is: love in families and friendships; the brothers' one day a year to say it

  • ★★★ John says that on Esther Day we remember Esther Earl as she wished, by celebrating love in families and friendships, not just romantic love. — 00:00:17 · Esther Day, Esther Earl

  • ★★★ John says Esther Day is the day to say 'I love you' to family and friends even, especially, when it's hard. — 00:00:27 · Esther Day, Esther Earl

    “Today is the day we say "I love you" to those people even when it's hard”

  • ★★ It is the one day a year the brothers say they love each other, so John 'reluctantly' acknowledges he loves Hank immensely. (playful) — 00:00:33 · Hank Green

00:00:42 — John's spirals of pain and self-involvement, and how Hank's patience and empathy shut them down

  • ★★★ John says that in hard times, from his brain's bad wiring or physical illness, pain, fear and obsessiveness consume him so that he struggles to empathize or listen. — 00:00:42 · mental disorder, empathy

    “it gets very hard for me to escape the prison of my own brain”

  • ★★ John says this becomes a vicious cycle: pain makes you self-involved, cutting you off from others, which increases the pain and self-involvement. — 00:00:57

  • ★★★ John says Hank's patience and empathy have shut down that spiral for him countless times, consistently since Hank was about three; he thanks, admires and loves him. — 00:01:06 · Hank Green, empathy

00:01:19 — Esther's book and This Star Won't Go Out; Question Tuesday tomorrow; sign-off

Threads in this video

Where the stories that moved here went next

Mentioned

Central: Agloe, New York · Esther Day · Esther Earl

Also: DFTBA Records · empathy · mental disorder · Question Tuesday · This Star Won't Go Out (book) · This Star Won't Go Out (charity) · vicious circle

Also centred on Agloe, New York: Agloe, New York

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