Friday, January 30, 2015

Humans of New York


Humans of New York


                Many of us have never heard of the name Brandon Stanton but most of us have seen his photos.  He is the man behind the camera who posts on the “Humans of New York” Facebook page.  While “mindlessly” scrolling through my Facebook news feed, I came upon an article that caught my eye that a friend of mine had shared.  The title read “The Guy Behind ‘Humans of New York’ Raised over One Million Dollars After This Photo Went Viral.” So I clicked on the link and began to read.

                The title of the article says it all doesn’t it? That Brandon Stanton took a picture, posted it, and raised one million dollars.  What is the big deal right? We see things like this all the time right? No.  I got to thinking about what he did for the students that go to that school and how he directly impacted all of those students’ lives.  I began to think about how if he didn’t have social media or is social media and the internet didn’t exist would that be possible?

Brownsville, Brooklyn is generally considered a place that not many of us would like to live or visit since it has the highest crime rate in New York City.  However, Mr. Stanton went there and met this young boy and a teacher that both inspired him to try to do more.  The principal of the school seems to genuinely believe in all of her students and try to inspire them to be better.  I believe these attributes contributed to Mr. Stanton wanting to help.

I guess what I am trying to say is that maybe social media can be a great thing.  Look at what it has done for those kids at Mott Hall Bridges Academy.  Instead of mindlessly scrolling through the internet like we have discussed in class maybe we should all be a little more cognizant of what is actually there.  When we scroll through our news feeds on Facebook or go through our Twitter pages or like something on Instagram we shouldn’t turn our minds off, but stay aware of what we are looking at.  The people who donated to the school certainly did not just scroll by like many of us do.

I am NOT saying that donating to any and all causes is a must.  I am NOT saying that everyone who posts a sad story or something bad that is happening we should support unconditionally.  What I am saying is that there is genuine suffering and injustice in America and abroad and not enough people pay attention.  I am saying that maybe just once instead of scrolling through your Facebook news feed, Twitter, or Instagram maybe look for something that could be thought provoking.  Maybe think about something other than the funny cat video your best friend just posted and become aware of what is going on.

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