In “Protection” by Gillian Whitlock, she talks about how life narratives can make a big difference in the world. It can encourage people to reach out to others that we would just ordinarily ignore in our day to day lives if we didn’t know their story. However, life narratives don’t just encourage us to help others, they can also help us.
Humans of New York is a prime example of that. This blog, which showcases pictures of people on the streets, gives us a small life narrative in people’s lives. However, by doing so, it helps people connect with others because we see similarities we can empathize with, so in the comments we can find many people feeling secure and strong enough to tell their own stories, which sometimes encourage people to share their stories as well because they gave us strength because they went through it.
One of my favorite ones was this one. Although the USA is a nation of immigrants, there still is a lot of racism and a lot of people against other immigrants. However, once Brandon Stanton uploaded him and his story, as you can tell a lot of people rushed to his support. Those who thought the country had changed began to see the problem a little more. Also, instead of just walking by him and ignoring him, as we might do if we just saw him on the street, many people rushed to his aid, giving him offering him jobs and telling him encouraging stories.
Humans of New York help show people as more than just another person by sharing their stories. It’s not just a typical life narrative, it’s almost like a diary for people to come and read and share, as if we were all one big family. And it’s only going to get better and bigger.
