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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