Last month, I made a YouTube video on my channel about my Dad’s Every Day Carry (EDC). I thought this was perfect since I was trying to deal with his passing in a positive way and that’s what I talk about on my channel anyways. I don’t spend a lot of time on the videos, I don't make any money off of them, and I don’t mind if they’re just something I do because I enjoy them.

But something happened that was unexpected. After posting the video, I checked the comments once or twice and responded to some but never went back to the video until about three weeks later.

I got a notification on my phone that someone had commented on the video, which wasn’t shocking, but when I saw the view count on the video, it almost knocked me over. Over 27,000 views. The video had taken off.

Again I was surprised at what happened next. Normally I’d say that YouTube comments are one of the darkest places on the web, and I generally try to stay away from them, especially with videos about politics or controversy. What I saw was over 120 comments on my video (more than any other thing I’d ever posted) that were filled with heartwarming sympathies and tributes to my dad and some of the tools he carried. People from all walks of life and all ages. People that had lost their dads as well, some to Covid even.

Going through my dad’s things and posting the video had been therapeutic enough - but the extra added bonus of so many sympathies and encouragement from an unlikely place (YouTube comments of all places) has helped me realize that there are people that care out there, and that there are people who can be kind.

My church family and physical family has been an incredible help and encouragement since my dad passed on January 4. What I didn’t expect, though, was a similar kind of encouragement from strangers on the internet. It’s good to see that we haven’t lost all of our humanity and that kindness is still alive and well.