As you may have heard, I’ve gone viral. Wait. Let’s start that over. My friends and I decided to make a parody on YouTube, and the video has gone viral. Much better. And it’s been a very strange experience.
First of all, knowing that a video featuring your voice and face has been seen over 10,000 times is just plain freaky. I don’t know how actual celebrities do it, but it’s a bit unnerving. However, the overwhelming positive feedback has been fantastic! Between my friends and myself, we’ve received a ton of texts, emails, Facebook comments, etc. of friends and family telling us how much they enjoyed the video. And honestly, it’s an incredible feeling. But today’s blog post, unfortunately, isn’t about those people. It’s about the other people. You know, the haters.
I don’t know what it is about our culture, but we weren’t raised to be supportive of other people’s success. Some of us gradually learn that human decency includes being supportive of others, but I think some of us never learn that lesson. And the result is saddening. How often were we compared to others growing up? “Look at Nahed, she always gets straight A’s.” Or “Do you see how well Nahed takes care of herself? She’s such a pretty girl.” So what does this do? It creates bitterness, spite, and envy. And then we hate anything Nahed ever does. Sorry if your name is Nahed.
If you’ve experienced what I’m talking about, either as the victim of negativity or the negativity perpetrator, maybe you can agree with my thoughts today. And hopefully, you’ll also agree that it sucks. Being a hater sucks.
I want to apologize for not writing an entire entry about how happy I am that people enjoyed our video. Because really, I’ve been blown away by people’s reactions (the good ones :). I just wanted to shed a little light on something that’s plagued our culture for so long. The next time you hear a success story or someone else’s good news, don't try to one-up them or make excuses for why it's a fluke. Be genuinely happy for them. Offer your support. In fact, praise them. Because Someone Else will praise you for doing it.
3 comments:
Uggggh... NAHED!
This blog post needs to go viral.
Very well put
haha....first off Sam, I don't know how I found your blog, but I'm glad I did. I, like many, have seen your videos and they are hiliarious and seems dead on from a guy's perspective. I laughed a lot, so you've achieved what you're last blog post wanted with me. Anyways, yes, I completly agree with you on the envy thing and have always hated the way it is in our culture. So rarely do you see someone at church congratulating someone or telling them that they are proud of them. I've experienced this mostly with my "friends" at church when talking about my passions and success in real estate. They cannot stand it and try to trivialize it as much as possible. Its shameful at best and such a horrible by product of what were probably well intentions of our immigrant parents. Anways, keep on writing because you are an awsome writer and its cool to have your perspective written down. For the record, "GOOD JOB, I'M PROUD OF YOU". I'd also like to state that you remind me of Joe Azer's writing styles. Maybe I just say that because you are both good and I am horrible at writing :) Take care. More videos making fun of our own kind, please!
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