Humans of New York [Guest Post]

Sometimes, when I write down my major life revelations, I feel really dumb.

This is one of those times.

"If you could give one piece of advice
to a large group of people, what
would it be?
--Have a relationship with God.
--When do you find it most difficult
to have a relationship with God?
--When He's not on time."

One of my favorite blogs on all of the internet is Human’s of New York. Its concept: take pictures of humans in New York, talk to them, and put it on the internet. This is a pretty easy idea, but the results are mesmerizing. What I love is that there are pictures of all types of people, from the homeless to high-powered-Wall-Street-guys.

The thing is, I live in one of those places on earth that is populated; I see people - like everyday, all the time. The thing is, most people are strangers; I know nothing about them, and they mean next to nothing to me - I pass them by, they pass me by. Raised in the South, I think it’s polite to at least look at them when I pass, and cap it off with a nod, but if I could ignore most people I probably would. Like cars passing on the highway.

"I didn't sleep much last
night. I've been feeling a
little blue.
-Why's that?
-Oh, you know.
The holidays.
Memories, memories..."

The thing about Humans of New York (or HONY to those in the know) is this: when I started following the blog, I was paying attention to the photograph and to the dress of the photo’s subject. Soon, though, something about the captions - all the captions - started to grab me, the story these people are telling started to grab me. The thing is, all of them have something to say - from profound to funny - some uplifting, some heartbreaking.

The thing that I forget the most is that the human person in front of me is not just “in my way,” or simply there to help me get to where I am going. Aristotle wrote about friendships of utility, friendships which are about what a person brings to the table for me. Really, how many of those do we have, and is friendship even the right word? More fitting would be “human of use.”

What Humans of New York is to me is a daily reminder that everyone is on a journey, everyone has a story to tell. We’re not just getting in each others’ way.  Yeah, there are people on there with struggles who I bet if we ever met we wouldn't get along; we would maybe disagree or just plain dislike each other. That’s fine, I can live like that. What I can’t do is view people as shells. I have to recognize that the incredible capacities for thought, will, faith, hope, love and everything that makes a human being a person is inside of each of them.  

"I have a dogmatic certainty: God is in every person's life. God is in everyone's life. Even if the life of a person has been a disaster, even if it is destroyed by vices, drugs or anything else - God is in this person's life. You can - you must - try to seek God in every human life.”

- Pope Francis

You can find the website "Humans of New York" here.

You can find the Tumblr for "Humans of New York" here.

**Note-The pictures and captions on this blog are not mine, they all belong to Humans of New York and their photographer Brandon Stanton. Head over to their website to see more.**

"I need to get to Vegas. That's the place to be!
-What would you do in Vegas?
-Don't know. Never been." 

This blog is a guest post from my good friend William Goggins. Check him out on Twitter @wgoggins33