Who We Really Are... When Everything Goes Wrong

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With the support of Creative Europe – MEDIA Programme of the European Union.

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About this video:
Are we made to take care of each other? Or is it everyone for themselves?

Sources:

Media included:
2012; Blade Runner 2049; Chernobyl; Children of Men; Cloud Atlas; Contagion; Deepwater Horizon; Detroit; Dunkirk; Earthquake; Elysium; Hacksaw Ridge; Hours; Independence Day; Joker; Mad Max 2; Men in Black; Only the Brave; Schindler’s List; Stronger; Sully; The 33; The Book of Eli; The Dark Knight; The Day After Tomorrow; The Impossible; The Pianist; The Purge; The Purge: Anarchy; The Road; The Rover; Tomorrowland; V for Vendetta; War of the Worlds; When the Levees Broke; World Trade Center; World War Z

Music:
Blade Ewing – Ghosts in the Stories
Jacob Montague – Eventide
Davis Harwell – Now Comes the Good Sailing
Lights & Motion – Splinter
U137 – Watching the Storm
Ryan Taubert – Deeply

[ziyuanma]

I experienced an earthquake back in elementary school. Everyone was pretty panicky including the teachers, so there was no "evacuate in an orderly fashion" and kids just ran. As I was running along down the school's dark hallway to the stairs a random girl beside me reached out her hand and I took it. We didn't say a word to eachother but went on holding hands as we ran. We made it out safely, went our separate ways and I never saw her again after that. But that small moment just stayed with me through all these years, an example of how strangers can instantly gravitate towards one another in times of distress. Oh the warmth of holding on to another person's hand when the future is unknown.

[antonioroach]

I was leaving San Antonio by plane back in 97. There was a tornado coming in and we could see it as we sat on the runway. A woman beside me, a complete stranger asked me with tears in her eyes could she hold my hand. She was so afraid and she just wanted to know she wasn't alone.

[casualcallie]

There's some good in this world, Mr. Frodo, and it's worth fightin for.

[TimZoet]

I remember when I was 20 years old, I was cliff diving with some friends in Croatia. After a while my friends went back to our towels on the beach but I still went for one last dive. As I got up the usual rock we jumped from I suddenly saw a little girl in the sea. The rocks we were jumping from we pretty far away from shore so it was really weird seeing a little girl there, she couldn't have been older than 5 or 6. As I spotted her I saw her struggling and going under. I jumped in, got her on my back, swam back to shore and there her panicked mother came running up and grabbed her by her hand. Never saw that girl again after that.
Some time later I reflected back on that moment and what I discovered was that there wasn't a single thought process in that moment. As I saw her my body was taken over by the sole purpose of saving her. Call it instinct or pure purpose, I can't really take any credit for saving her since it came so naturally and automatically. That insight made me consider that humans have a good heart, not simply me, I truly believe every human would go into that saving nature. And I like that thought.

[SugarHammered]

I work as a firefighter in Texas on the gulf. My community was hit hard during hurricane Harvey and unfortunately there were so many people we just couldn't help them all. As a fire dept we aren't really equipped for floods like that but who else do people really call when their houses are slowly filling with water? I remember feeling helpless trapped at my station just listening to it rain. Knowing my house, my family's houses, and my entire community is just slowly being submerged. Knowing these people need help and there just wouldnt be enough of us. The next morning we had people show up to the station from literally all over the country who come to help. People who had no family or friends here. They took vacation time from their jobs. Hauled their own boats and came to help us until it was over. These ppl weren't paid and barely even thanked but I think about them all the time and how they changed my view of ppl in times of disaster.

[susiefairfield]

And what would humans be without love?"
RARE, said Death.

Terry Pratchett

[QuietlyMagnetic]

One of the most profound lessons I learnt from Viktor Frankl was ― “Man does not simply exist but always decides what his existence will be, what he will become the next moment."

[clcee]

This is spot on! The need for connection, togetherness, family and a sense of community is human nature; something that's hard wired within us. The biggest issue we're facing is a decline in empathy and a desensitizing toward human suffering. There seems to be a noticeable division happening between those who are driven by their conscience and those who are driven by ego.

[oscarherr]

3 years ago my city (Mexico City) got wrecked by an earthquake, within hours you had thousands of people dropping everything, rushing to disaster zones to pull folks out of the ruble, and tons upon tons of aid being given freely to anyone who needed. I myself contributed by distributing medicine in a disaster zone with a group of volunteers, and I felt a connection to my fellow humans deeper than I had ever or since felt

[hellen]

My whole town of 88, 000 people in Northern Alberta, Canada, were evacuated from a wildfire in 2016 (The Fort McMurray Wildfire). There is only one road in and out of the town, and the nearest large city is a 5 hour drive away. This proved to me that people really do come together in hard times to help people in bad situations. People without cars jumped in with strangers to get to safety, people volunteered to cook for masses, volunteered to help organize sleeping arrangements and such. Miraculously, not a single person died in the fire, even though it decimated neighbourhoods. I am always stunned by the memories of the regular folks that joined together that day to get everyone out safely.

[Flamingorr]

It’s incredible how empty I am. Listening to this made me realize why I had shifted my way around from this world, but I can’t escape from it. I need to be filled with love again. Thank you for these words.

[KarnodAldhorn]

I've once heard someone argue that we humans are natural problemsolvers and survivors of crisis. And under modern societal circumstances this sense of purpose is "missing" which is why we can allegedly get more depressed when everything is fine.

[jamesgrey]

When we're not constantly reminded of the goodness of humanity, we're only left with our inflated negative view of humanity.

[tumisveinnsnorrason]

Generally speaking, when watching youtube you do not expect that an essay would be able to move you to tears, rarer still, to instill a sense of hope and purpose in you that you thought was lost. I am honestly and genuinely in awe of your work, and feel that it can be compared to nothing else on this platform, completely in a league of its own.

[Whatwasisayingtou]

"Only in darkness are we revealed. Goodness is not goodness that seeks advantage. Good is good in the final hour. In the deepest pit—without hope, without witness. Without reward. Virtue is only virtue, in extremis." - Doctor Who

[svartvist]

I've never concerned myself with humanity prevailing in times of catastrophe. Most everyone I've observed in those circumstances rally to the reduction of suffering. It's when times are pleasantly peaceful for the majority, there is often a lack of consciousness for the individual in crisis. Too many times I've watched others, including myself, slip through the cracks with nowhere to turn for relief. It is easier to get the ambulance to the aid of the person who has fallen from the precipice, than to be at the precipice with enduring friendship that gives them no cause to step off.

[redpandarampage]

The problem we have today is, all of this beautiful kindness in times of despair, all that miraculous human decency and desire to help and care for others, all of this is ABSENT in the majority of today's leadership across the globe. Corrupt elites, mega corporations, media and business empires, and self serving politicians with no empathy currently control our societies. This only makes everything worse.

[paz]

"Most people, deep down, are pretty decent" man hit way to hard

[TerranWatch]

I am an Emergency Manager in the US. This video broke me. It put words to why I do what I do, why I believe in people and why I break myself against things I cannot control. Because I believe in the best of us. Because I have hope.

[stephen_dobbins]

This was incredible. I remember when I was 17 my friend was driving and we came across a horrible car crash. Mini van flipped over with a family still inside. We ran out with no idea what we were going to do, and then so did 10 other people. We got the family out, emergency services there and fortunately while they were hurt the worst damage was the car. Everyone just wanted to make sure they were ok. Humanity is beautiful.