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bob saget
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In an era in which we so deeply value our privacy -- including the sanctity and sacredness of harboring our own opinions and experiences -- the option to share pieces of our lives with others is a privilege for both us and those with whom we allow such special access. Furthermore, besides telling our stories, anecdotes, and episodes to others over the telephone or face-to-face, we now have the ability to capture life's precious moments on video. Traditionally, displaying photographs was the only way to rekindle memories (and, moreover, share them with others), but with video cameras (and the invaluable on-screen time stamp), our own lives can be visually remembered in real-time, living on in cassettes to be played over and over, acting as time capsules that detail our long, dense, complicated lives.

And in this world, there is one man, one pioneering Wizard of Oz. Not so much "the man behind the curtain," of course, but one who harnesses great power in understanding the importance of visual remembrance in Americana, Bob Saget is a living legend. On America's Funniest Home Videos, the longest-running television program in history, our beloved host, Saget, collects and shares with millions the most venerable, unforgettable moments in the lives of so many of us Americans who want to expose what we do and who we are as individuals, families, and, most of all, Americans.
Thanks to Saget, we've seen everything: wedding disasters, fat people, overflowing washing machines, children fighting, cats in weird places, belly flops, grandmas falling, dogs chasing their own tails, and hundreds, in not thousands, of testicles obliterated by children and sports equipment. And cake, too. And isn't that what our country is all about? Dudes's nuts being smashed to pieces (and cake)?

Maybe one day, this great nation will have a method by which we can share with each other -- without Saget talking in a girly voice over the sound of instrumental circus music -- footage of our sons and daughters lighting fire crackers from their butts. But until that day comes, all hail Bob Saget, for he is one of our country's greatest leaders in the crusade to preserve our national memories, one video at a time.