This is a public service announcement. I just found this website Humans of New York. Brandon is a photographer who lost his job and now takes pictures of people on the street and asks them questions. Absolutely amazing! He is now traveling the Middle East and the world. A true picture of humanity. Enjoy.
“This one likes photos too much. If he takes one more photo, I will break his camera. But don’t translate that.” (Zaatari Refugee Camp, Jordan)
“My brother went to college in America, and it was very hard for my parents to send him there. My father worked two jobs. I’d always hear him talking to my mother about money troubles. So when I graduated from high school, I went straight to work, to help pay for my brother’s school. I never resented it, because I knew he was more intelligent than me, and he deserved it. But now he has a great job in Australia, and I wish that I’d gone to college. But you know what? That same brother married into a family with two sisters. He married the older sister. And at the wedding, I met the younger sister, we danced, and now we are married. Her name means ‘angel,’ and she is my angel. And I tell her every day that she’s better than being a millionaire. So my brother got his job. And I got my wife.” (Dhana, Jordan)
“I’m a student. My parents didn’t want me sitting around the house all summer, so they made me be a shepherd.” (Kalak, Iraq)
“One day I drove into the city to buy goods for my shop. I repaired antennas and satellite dishes, so I needed some replacement parts. But on the road there was a checkpoint for the Syrian government, and two soldiers came up to my car. They began to argue with each other. ‘Let’s take him,’ said one of them. ‘Let him go,’ said the other. And they went back and forth, and back and forth. But finally the first man won the argument, and they took me out of my car, put a blindfold on me, and took me to jail. When I got to the jail, they began beating me with a cord. They asked me if I supported the rebels. I kept saying ‘No,’ but they kept beating me. They took off all my clothes. They said: ‘We are going to whip you 35 times, and if you say ‘ouch,’ we will start from the beginning. They whipped me and kicked me and broke 3 of my ribs. They said: ‘Tell us how many soldiers you’ve killed.’ I said: ‘None.’They said: ‘Tell us how many soldiers!”I said: ‘None. I haven’t killed anyone.’But they kept beating me and they ripped off my toenails and I screamed: ‘Eleven! Eleven! I killed eleven soldiers!’ So they put me into prison. But I never killed any soldiers. I never fought anyone. I’m a good person. I have a very sweet heart. You believe me when I tell you this, don’t you?”(Zaatari Refugee Camp, Jordan)
“If you speak gently, you’ll find good people wherever you go. If you find a bad person, just move on to the next person.” (Petra, Jordan)
grassfood. 