Comforting Commonality

The idea for this post started with a lie. I basically ran across two awesome videos I wanted to share, and developed a weak justification for why they were relevant to the Knoxville Yankee experience. But the more I thought about it, the stronger my lame theme became. Here it is: For all the things that are different here in Knoxville, sometimes finding common ground isn't as hard as you'd think.

The first thought has to do with sense of humor. I've long complained about the lack of sarcasm and irony around here, and while that remains true, video #1 has convinced me there is more to good humor than sarcasm. But before I share it, let me offer two disclaimers:

Disclaimer #1: People reading this through email will probably need to click the link I've provided, or come visit KnoxvilleYankee.com directly to see it.

Disclaimer #2: While this is visually appropriate for work and small children, there is a part in the audio that is not.

Link: Brawndo The Thirst Mutilator

Video (if you can see it):



Now while I found this absolutely hilarious, my typical KnoxvilleYankee.com reader (Down to earth blue collar folk in their 40's) might not. But that's not really the point. The point is that I found a whole bunch of Knoxville-natives who did. It created a sensation at work, and greatly improved my respect for the sense of humor of many people whom I would not have expected to enjoy this. Sharing a good laugh with so many people was very socially therapeutic.

So that's common funny. Then there's also common emotion. Many of you may have seen this already, but I just ran across it on Friday:

Link: Paul Pott Britain's Got Talent

Video:



Now let me just say, I am not an opera fan. Not in the slightest. But for some reason, this video touched me very deeply, bringing me almost to the point of tears the first few times I watched it. Maybe it's the humbleness of the man. Maybe it's his insane talent or the deep emotion of his song. Maybe it's how strongly he affected the other people in the room (bringing many of them to tears). But whatever the reason, it got me. Back to the topic - it got to a lot of other people I know around here too. Just today I showed it to my 'best friend' down here in Knoxville (who will undoubtedly be a life-long friend) who had a similar reaction to me.

Ironically, none of my good friends from NY wrote back when I emailed it to them.