Does anyone else cry at "Soldiers returning home" videos on Youtube?

[Deleted User]Fematheist (deleted user)
edited June 2024 in General

I know.. I know.. I'm ridiculous... Hear me out, though..

The videos that show soldiers/military personnel returning to their families/children, after a prolonged service period, do you watch them? Do the videos make you cry? Even if you don't you may not care to share this with "addiction" with others??? :)

I like coming on here and reading the opinions and insights of others, but it just makes me "hungrier." When I have a particularly trying day, and I have a little bit of time to myself, I like to watch the videos of soldiers returning and surprising either their children, their spouses, or their parents... MAKES me cry every. time! lol

There's something about the richness, the lack of shame at showing deep, intense emotion that appeals, on a deep, usually unaddressed level, to my entire Soul!

Have you ever "juiced" your dopamine/oxytocin levels with such videos? I also get quite a kick out of the ones that show Kindness on a "God Mode" level, where faith in the beauty and tenderness of our humanity is shown!!! lol

Your thoughts?

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Comments

  • JoyfulHeartJoyfulHeart

    I'm emotionally affected by them, but I also can't help putting myself in the position of the person being surprised. I ask myself if I'd want to be recorded at such a vulnerable moment, and if I'd want to have that moment shared. My own answer to those questions is no, so I've begun to feel uncomfortable with the concept in general.

    I do get where you're coming from though. I think that they contain some profound beauty.

  • TxTomTxTom

    Yes, those videos of military dads surprising their graduating high school daughter, or surprising their sons at the football game... yeah, those get me every time.

  • MelancholyMelancholy

    I think you have to be heartless to not feel emotional seeing those videos.
    Despite all our differences, I think just about everyone can understand that feeling when you are reunited with someone you love and haven't seen in a while, especially when its an unexpected reunion.

  • BlessedEnergy4UBlessedEnergy4U

    I was getting teary eyed just reading the comments and references lol I LOVE those videos … so many overwhelming emotions attached. It’s a definite heart chakra reset for me …

  • [Deleted User]Fematheist (deleted user)

    @BlessedEnergy4U ~ THAT'S WHAT THIS IS!!! A HEART CHAKRA RESET!!! THANK YOU! THANK YOU!! It make SOOO MUCH MORE SENSE, NOW!! :) :) :) Thank you for this!!! I didn't know WHY these videos affected me so deeply!!! :)

    @JoyfulHeart ~ Precious You! I feel you on just how sacred, how private many of us would wish to keep such moments.. But judging from the innocent, grateful joy that I know I, personally, feel, I am grateful that at least SOME people feel comfortable allowing their moments to be shared. Not all of us have THIS LEVEL OF FEELING present in our lives, no matter how much we might WISH they were!

    @Melancholy ~ I agree! When the babies break, and cry, screaming "Dad!!!" I LOSE IT!!! Or when you see the mix of emotion on the mothers' faces... Gets me EVERY TIME!!! (Have to take a moment to wipe away tears!) Seeing these videos reminds me of just how much our love connections mean to our hearts. You're absolutely right--- only a heartless NPC could feel NO EMOTION upon viewing these videos!!! lol

    @TxTom ~ Thank you! "Gets me EVERY. TIME." <<Yep!!! To KNOW, as evidenced by our people's response to seeing us again, that we are each DEEPLY, DEEPLY VALUED AND MISSED... GETS. ME. EVERY. TIME.

    In my Biology classes, I read about "mirror neurons" that we, as humans, have in our brains. They allow us to feel what others feel, as a reflection. I think watching the joy and longing in those videos really DOES do something good, and right, in our brains!!! :)

  • pmvinespmvines

    Something I learned about thinking Vietnam vets is that for many it is so much more meaningful to say welcome home, even after decades, than it is even to say thank you for your service.

  • Will564Will564

    I also get quite a kick out of the ones that show Kindness on a "God Mode" level, where faith in the beauty and tenderness of our humanity is shown!!! lol

    While the military ones are very touching, what you're talking about here actually is what really touches me and makes me cry the most. Especially when it's kids, I have a soft spot for kids or people that my heart views innocent or pure. There used to be these ESPN series of famous athletes making kids with illnesses so happy, or Make A Wish videos. Things like that, when I think about all of the difficulties these kids go through, and to see them (and their families) so incredibly happy...nothing makes me cry more than that.

  • [Deleted User]Fematheist (deleted user)

    TEARS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Thank you for this, @pmvines !!!!! Oh my goodness... Hit me RIGHT IN THE FEELS!!!! I will be SURE to do that, from now on!! Soooo big...soooo right. Soooooooo NEEDED. Thank you!!!

  • Katelyn_BKatelyn_B
    edited June 2024

    They sometimes do, yes. Part of it, I'm sure, is because I am heartened and touched at seeing the family come through the crucible (which may not have ended, but that is another discussion, I think) and seeing that moment of pure relief and happiness.

    The other aspect is many years ago I experienced that moment in that I was the one returning from the desert, and videos like that bring up a lot of feelings and memories for me....

  • TheFunCartelTheFunCartel

    There are things from a childhood that one can remember as a general rule yet are unable to remember the details vividly. My dad returning home unexpectedly from Vietnam for Christmas was not one of them.

    My mom, brother and I were living in the Rio Grande Valley in Texas because my mom was from there while my dad was in Vietnam for his second tour. The tension was beyond description at the time because before my dad deployed the neighbors next door lost their husband and father who stepped on a land mine just days before coming home and as a result had a closed casket funeral. As an eight year-old the visions of the funeral and utter devastation it caused that family saturated my thoughts. In Texas, we had a front door that had a small window at the top. I could see the outline of a hat as someone knocked. I could only see the top of his hat and I thought it was the postman but asked “Who is it” because I was told not to answer the door myself. There was no answer.

    I called to my mom who was cautious of the stranger at the door and she peeked over the window. She began to shake and I heard her breath catch as she frantically fumbled to unlock the door and get it open. As she flung the door open I remember every inch of my dad standing on the front porch before she engulfed him in an embrace with tears streaming down her face. As for me, I was looking for scars on his face, a limp, missing limbs and anything else that might indicate he was less than when he left. I swallowed the urge to cry or anything because he had told me that I was the man of the house while he was gone since I was the oldest. My lip quivered when he reached down and pulled me into him. It was the only emotion I allowed myself at the time because my “toughness” was my gift to him.

    Later, when I was in college, I learned he was not whole and had major emotional and mental issues from the war—at one point even attempting suicide. But I remember him in the doorway for that brief instance in 1970 and it is still as vivid now as it was then—my dad as perfect as he would ever be in his dress uniform locked in my memories.

    So yes, those videos rock me to my core every time.

  • [Deleted User]Fematheist (deleted user)

    @HarleyGirlKate ~ Wow...wow...wow... I can't even IMAJEN being on the receiving end of such JOY!!! YOU WERE WORTH IT!!! To have your people cry and laugh, at the same time, because they had missed you so, because they were soooo proud of you... Yeah... Right in the feels!!! If you had gone through your life without knowing just how good, how powerful, and how needed you were.... I'M GLAD YOU GOT THE CONFIRMATION!!! Those videos DO SOMETHING to me, every time! Thank you for sharing!!! :)

    @TheFunCartel ~ If I'm not careful, my "Father Wound" embarrasses me! Wait... I can't do this out here. I'll PM you.. But thank you for your post! :) :(

  • TxTomTxTom

    @TheFunCartel When I was reading your story, I feared the person at the door was going to be the Caualty Notification Officer.

    Glad it was your dad, instead.

  • TheFunCartelTheFunCartel

    @TxTom Thank you. It did not occur to me at the time because this was the first time not living on base so I did not associate them with civilian areas as a kid even though they of course visited civilian homes. It’s just that it was common place to see them on military bases at the time.

  • [Deleted User]Fematheist (deleted user)

    @TxTom~ Whoa... Hadn't even thought of that. Or of the many who had to live through such visits. I, too, am hugely glad that it was @TheFunCartel 's dad, instead of the other. A moment for those who had to hear such news....

    I think that's one of the reasons that these videos hit so hard. I'm grateful for the ones who came back...

  • JubalJubal
    edited June 2024

    Gonna share my second favorite "warrior comes home" story here. This was when I was working at the airport, shortly after 9/11 put security into hyperdrive.

    A young pregnant woman was with her kid outside security with a sign for her husband. I happened to be up in the baggage claim area handling a misconnected bag and saw the sign, so I asked her about it. Turns out that he was only connecting through DFW airport on his way to his next duty station, having just come back from overseas. She was planning on "seeing" him through the barrier glass by the baggage area. I got ahold of a supervisor, we put our heads together. The supervisor got the ticket counter to print entry passes for the woman and her child so they could come through TSA, and we escorted them to the arrival gate for her husbands flight.

    There weren't very many dry eyes at that reunion. Being able to put that family together for 15-20 minutes beat the hell out of them having to look at each other through glass. Yeah, I cried a bit too.

    (my favorite "warrior comes home" story is when MY unit came back ashore at Camp Pendleton after almost a year being deployed. But that's a different story for another time)

  • [Deleted User]Fematheist (deleted user)

    @Jubal~ PLEASE SHARE THAT STORY. Thank you :)

    ^^^^HOW BEAUTIFUL IS THAT??? THANK YOU for making it possible for them to TOUCH ONE ANOTHER, to make the distance go away!!!!!!

    What you and your supervisor did was some NEXT LEVEL RIGHT, in allowing those people to MAKE THE DISTANCE GO AWAY.... Whoa... Thank you. So much!!

    There's something about holding someone, touching them, like they're not just a figment of our imaginations, that sometimes it's okay to cry because of the missing!!! @Jubal... THANK YOU for knowing exactly what was needed!!!

    Forgive me if I misspelled anything, my eye-water made me blind!!! lol

  • TxTomTxTom

    @Jubal That family will never forget you did that for them.

  • TheFunCartelTheFunCartel

    Thank you for doing that @Jubal. So many people don’t think outside the rules box now days even when it is absolutely the right thing to do. That gives me hope for the world.

  • [Deleted User]WriterGF (deleted user)

    Sure. My daughter makes fun of the fact that I tear up at reunion videos or people saying goodbye to each other. I think it's because, with the custody arrangement, I've had to say goodbye to my daughter twice a week for the last 12 years and it still breaks my heart to do it.

  • ShakeShake

    I know.. I know.. I'm ridiculous... Hear me out, though..

    Nothing ridiculous about this! I love watching videos like this. Love when it's pets reactions too! Something so wholesome about a someone returning home from overseas & watching their dog attack them with affection 🥹

    @Jubal that's a beautiful story. Thanks for sharing!

  • [Deleted User]Fematheist (deleted user)

    @Will564 ~ Oh, PLEASE don't get me started on the videos like that!!! lol There were some videos (I'm visually stimulated, can you tell? :) ) where the bosses go undercover and work in their own businesses... But you're right, the videos where people show up and show out on being HUMAN touch my very core!!! I saw one where a person got out of his car, with an umbrella, and held it over a cop--- in a POURING RAIN!! I melted!!! :) It's like those moments call to a gentler time, a time when we remembered that we're actually allllll in this thing together, but at that time, we knew this... Love those!!!

    @WriterGF ~ Is she "making fun" or does it tickle her? The fact that you are capable of showing genuine emotion? I can't even imagine having to part with my daughter twice a week, for years, but I'm almost certain that her feeling of the CONSISTENT love that you have for her has made her stronger.... and maybe unable to understand the sense of loss YOU feel each time she has to go! Thank you, Dad, for providing a love that instilled such strength in your girl!!!!! :)

    @Shake~ I appreciate your letting me off the "ridiculous" hook :) While I prefer the human reunion videos, I HAVE seen a few fur baby videos that touched my heart!!! They're TOTALLY UNMIXED in their excitement--- it's like they feel that their Pack Leader has returned!! Maybe we share a little more with animals than we like to admit? :)

  • TxTomTxTom

    There was a video years ago of a young couple getting married. However, the bride's father had passed away from a terminal illness just a couple of weeks earlier. During the family dance portion of the wedding, a "surprise" video recording of the late father wishing the couple well brought the entire house to tears.

  • [Deleted User]Fematheist (deleted user)

    @TxTom~ That would have FLOORED me!!! What a beautiful, Fatherly thing he did.. knowing that his time here was close to being done.. I'd have been a snotty MESS!!!

    I have to admit, though, that I'm glad you shared that. I never knew the committed love of a father, so stories like these ALWAYS pierce me to the core!!! Talk about getting the Father's Blessing at your wedding!!! Woooooo!!!!!

  • MakaMaka

    All the time lol the children ones are my favorite. Seeing their eyes light up when they realize what’s up always pulls at my heart strings

  • [Deleted User]Fematheist (deleted user)

    @Maka~ they ARE powerful, aren't they? It's like @Will564 mentioned-- that there's something about the innocence and purity in children that makes their open shows of devotion and love more endearing to some of us!

  • Will564Will564

    @Fematheist

    Oh, PLEASE don't get me started on the videos like that!!! lol There were some videos (I'm visually stimulated, can you tell? :) ) where the bosses go undercover and work in their own businesses... But you're right, the videos where people show up and show out on being HUMAN touch my very core!!!

    Sometimes I feel like you and I must have some kind of mind link. When I made my original post, I ALMOST mentioned an episode of Undercover Boss (which may be the show you're referring to, and if not, it's a similar one) which made me cry so hard the first time I saw it. It felt like the employees felt so incredibly touched in the show that I could just FEEL it myself. I didn't mention it because I thought people would think I'm throwing out a reality TV show in the same thread as soldiers returning to their families, and I thought maybe people would think I'm being silly. So it's so cool that you thought of the same thing!

  • MikeSugsMikeSugs

    I cry just from waking up, realizing that I need to exist another day. Lol.

  • [Deleted User]Fematheist (deleted user)

    I LOOOOOVE your "verbal cuddles," @Will564 !! :)

    Please share the tear-jerker episode of Undercover Boss with me!!! Message me so we can bolster our "mind meld"!!! lol

  • [Deleted User]Fematheist (deleted user)

    @MikeSugs ~ I know, right? Some mornings I have to browbeat myself out of bed!!! "I DON'T WANT TO ADULT ANYMORE!!!!!" lol

    You're in the right place, though, because there are people here who can inspire in you a joyful, grateful vibe that might make it a little easier to wake up and exist one more day! :)

  • SunsetSnugglesSunsetSnuggles

    It's the dog ones that make me happiest. Seeing their tail shake their whole body with pure unbridled joy as they switch from zoomies to crying to snuggles, and back to zoomies.

    ~ Sunset Snuggles

    🦄 Enthusiast 🏞 Travel Fiend 🐘 Animal Lover

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