Headed to the USO...

Two years and one month ago (August 9, 2007) I was sitting at work with not a lot to do.* Sad to admit, but true. I had completed all my work and didn't have much else to work on at the time. I decided to turn on my CD by the Ten Tenors and listen to it. I came to a song called "Here's to the Heroes", which is one of my favorites and I listened to it over and over again. There was just something so inspiring about that song. So inspiring, in fact, that the thought came to me to make a video.

So for the next two hours I went to all the military websites and downloaded pictures and then went to Google and found a few more. I pulled up Windows Movie Maker (not the software of choice but I used what was available to me at work) and plugged the pictures in with the song. I wouldn't say it was my best work ever. There are things about it that I still don't like. But without using a better software program I just had to be content with how it turned out. For the most part I was pleased enough with it to share it with my family.

Their response was overwhelming. A few even asked if they could share it with their friends. The only problem was the file was much too large to send via email. So I decided to do something I thought I would never do. I put it on YouTube.

For just under 2 years my video sat on YouTube and every six months or so I would get an email letting me know someone posted a comment. "Oh, so people are watching it?" I would think to myself. This past May I got an email via my YouTube account from a lady asking my permission to show my video at her church services. I agreed and I mailed her a copy. A week later, I got another request to show it at a church service. I complied with that one as well.

From then on I was a little better about following this video. I knew it was available for the world to see, but I never actually thought anyone would watch it. At the beginning of July I checked to see how many views the video had. It was at 16,000. That many views in almost two years certainly wasn't anything to write home about.

But then something interesting and completely crazy happened. I started getting more and more comment notices in my inbox - one, two sometimes three a day. "What is going on?" I thought to myself. On July 4th the view counter was up to 22,528. The next day it was at 24,818 and each day thereafter it just kept going up by the thousands! And today, just two months later, it reached over 300,000 views.

But something even more interesting happened yesterday. I received two more requests. One from a woman who wants to show it at a district conference for Active Duty Coast Guard Members. The second from the co-chair of the USO Benefit that will be held in Chicago on October 17th.

A USO Benefit? Seriously? That's not just some little church with 100 or so members. A USO Benefit is HUGE (as are the screens the video will be playing on, apparently).

I don't share all of this to boast. I am completely humbled by it and I don't even know how to react. What simply started out as something to keep me busy for an hour at work has turned into something bigger than I could have ever imagined! For two years that video sat on YouTube and did nothing. I have no idea why it is now becoming so popular. I feel so honored that people feel inspired to share it with others.

It's exciting to see the type of reaction this is getting all across the world. But the one thought that keeps going through my head is that if I had ever thought this video would get this much attention, I would have spent more than two hours working on it and I certainly would have used a better software program. I'm almost embarrassed to let it be shown at a USO Benefit.


*I hope I don't get fired for admitting to the fact that I was bored at work and spent two hours making a video. But that sometimes happens during the summer.