The 8 Best Videos of 2013 - Lincoln Awards

"If I had eight hours to chop down a tree, I'd spend six sharpening my ax and one watching videos on YouTube." 

- Lincoln

Happy Holidays! It's time for Hug the Rhino's second annual Lincoln Awards, featuring the 8 best videos of 2013. (See the 2012 edition here). To qualify, these videos have to be ones that our team watched for the first time in the last 12 months, so some aren't actually from 2013. We found almost zero of these videos on our own, so a huge thank you to those who shared the content!

This year's categories:

• Most Under-appreciated 
• Cutest Musical Duo
• Most Inspirational 
• Best Live Music Performance
• Most Shocking (With Purpose)
• Most Courageous 
• Most Change Potential
• Best Overall Video

Most Under-appreciated... 

Jon Oliver's Gun Control Documentary

Hilarious, witty, and substantive, Jon Oliver's 3-part series compares US and Australia's reaction to gun massacres. Hint: The US doesn't come out looking well. With the combination of stellar reporting and humor, this piece should have millions of views. 

Watch all three parts to get all of the facts and jokes.

Cutest Musical Duo... 

Father and 2 Year Old Son, "Don't Let Me Down"

This Brazilian Father and his 1 month, 11 year son remake a Beatles classic, in the process melting the hearts of everyone watching. 

Don't miss the pause and mumbling at 1:11

Most Inspirational... 

Louie Schwartzberg: Nature. Beauty. Gratitude.

A Benedictine Monk narrates Louie's stunning time lapse photography, asking us to wake up to the beauty and greatness of every single day. Lesson: Cultivate gratitude and wonder.  

Go ahead and watch this daily. 

Best Live Music Performance.... 

Local Natives on A Take Away Show, "Who Knows, Who Cares"

Anyone who loves live music should check out the series of Take Away Shows on Youtube. Not quite the diversity of NPR's Tiny Desk, but fantastic nonetheless. In this video the Local Natives entertain a French shopping mall with a live version of "Who Knows, Who Cares". 

(Music Starts at 1:30)

Just stunning. 

Most Shocking (With Purpose).... 

Earthlings - Full Length Documentary

Using hidden cameras, Shaun Monson invesigates five industries that use and abuse animals for profit (Pets, Food, Clothes, Entertainment, Scientific Research). 

Warning - Extremely Graphic

We needed two sittings to finish this. Too much to take in at once, especially if you are an empathetic person.

 Most Courageous Video.... 

Coming Out of Your Closet by Ash Beckman

We all have moments in our lives that call for courage and bravery, our own closets to leave. Ash Beckman explains more in this fantastic TEDx talk. 

Hard is hard. 

Most Change Potential 

The Power of Vulnerability - Brené Brown

What is the key to happiness? Could it be vulnerability? With so many personal insights, this video really inspires viewers to seek vulnerability, and be open to positive and negative emotion. 

To feel the highest highs, you have to be open to the lowest lows.

Best Overall Video (s) ... 

NPR - Tiny Desk Concerts

Alright, this is officially cheating. Of all of the things that we've watched this year, we've loved Tiny Desk concerts the most. Great bands playing live, stripped down versions of their songs to a bunch of office workers on their lunch break. Who knew that was a recipe for success? Here are four of our favorites.

Watched this way too many times. 

Best song: "Down With the Shine"

First Tiny Desk experience

The 2nd Song is ridiculously cool.

Search the tiny desk playlist for some of your favorite artists. They also feature big names like Adele, Macklemore, Lyle Lovett, etc. 

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Think we missed some great videos from 2013? Send then to us or leave them in the comment section. They might just make the awards for next year. 

Hug the Rhino

For a better life

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The Power of Empathy

If we can clear space in our lives by caring less about things that aren't important (see Power of Apathy), it's possible to fill that space with life-giving relationships and meaningful actions. This is precisely what I mean by the "The Power of Empathy".

To start, it's required that you watch the following video. It's an RSA production that features professor and philosopher Roman Krznaric discussing empathy and how we can expand our empathetic potential.  It's brilliant, and I'll use themes from the video to frame the discussion on empathy. 

*** The rest of the blog assumes you have watched the video. Which of course, you should because it's fabulous. 

Creating Mass Empathy Museums

Aren't empathy museums a genius idea? Wow! Roman, you had me at "A place which is not about dusty exhibits ... but an experiential and conversational public space!" Such potential!

Roman mentioned learning how sweatshops work, checking people out for conversations, etc. But I've thought of heaps of other ideas, and the possibilities are lacking in ends! In one room you could play the part of a teacher with 25 teenage students trying to impart a science lesson, in another you could be a waiter/waitress and spend 15 minutes trying to keep up with orders and balance plates and fill water glasses and remember orders  and have people complain! In another room, you could be tasked with picking strawberries in a room heated to 35 degrees (100 F) and have to fill a crate and then get paid 10 pence/cents for it. This is one of those ideas where I just want to say, well, what are we all waiting for? Let's release our horses and go for it.

Even in the 80's this was a tough job. 

If you have more Empathy museum ideas, please post them as comments on this blog. I'd love to hear them, and let me know if you'd like to collaborate on opening one of these museums in the future. Pssh. The Lourve is great, but what does it teach about The Love? Learning to love and care about a diverse range of individuals through a museum? Wow. Wow. Woah-wow. 

So now that I'm done gushing about that idea...

We can build our empathetic capacity. 

How? Well through museums. Wow! (See Above). Roman also mentions sensitive listening. Basically don't text while someone is talking, don't interrupt, focus on what other people are saying and show them that you truly care. And when necessary, share something about yourself, make yourself vulnerable and open up so that people know you are genuine. Do that, and you'll be amazed at what people tell you. 

I love spending time with you...

Of course, sometimes it's proper to grease the conversation a bit with a few weighty queries. You can connect to people by asking powerful, specific questions that are significant without being invasive. What is your family like? How close are you to your family? How is your relationship with your Dad different than with your Mom? Have you ever read "A Life of Learning and Activism?". What's your favorite post? You know, these are just suggestions. 

Flowering of Mass Empathy

If events like the Abolition of Slavery, Civil Rights, Women's Suffrage tell us anything, it's that such flowering can happen. I think the next great movement is developing our empathy across time, and in doing so taking meaningful action to prevent climate change. That's the great challenge of the modern world, and history tells us that's it's extremely and tantalizingly possible. 

Such an event might even be as beautiful as Oregon, but likely not. 

I'll end with wise words from one of my favorite books, Tuesdays with Morrie. 

"The problem is that we don’t believe we are as much alike as we are. If we saw each other as more alike, we might be eager to join in one big human family in this world, and to care about that family the way that we care about our own. Invest in the human family. Invest in people. Build a little community of those you love and those who love you.”

And empathy is how we make that happen. 

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Kurt Berning

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