Assignment #3-photo upload not working

What do the people around you say about living meaningfully?

Some would say that they live a meaningful life because that is what they believe they are doing each and everyday of their life. Walking down the street in New York City I had the opportunity to interview a few strangers and pry out their personal opinions from their tightly clenched consciences.
It was interesting to hear what random people walking down the street had to say about their meaning of life. But it must have been extremely weird from their perspective on the matter. Looking back over my notes I realized that many of my interviewees gave vague answers to the questions I asked. Such as: (1) What is wisdom, (2) On a scale of 1-10 how meaningful would you say your life is? (3) What are the most meaningful aspects of you life? (4) Do you have any meaningless aspects of your life? If so, what are they? (5) Do you think any human life is sacred? Most people were in such a hurry to get on with their everyday lives, they felt they had little time to spend discussing their own meaning of life.
When I first began asking each person a question they gave answers in a rush and the answer was usually a one or two word answer. But as the interview progressed they seemed to have started to actually think deeply about the question asked and what they truly thought.
My first street interview, with a random person, was a woman, most likely in her early to mid-thirties walking down Park Avenue between 22nd and 21st Streets. She was wearing jeans and a black shirt, with black flats. I spotted her on her way to the deli. She seemed quite alarmed and uninterested when I introduced myself and mentioned that I would like to ask her a few questions on her meaning of life for my course paper. This seemed to be a pattern in most people’s behavior when a stranger walks up to them and wants to ask them questions.
The next person I saw on the street was a homeless man who sits by a mailbox on 18th street and Park Avenue. He always sits there and talks to people walking by. For these interviews I really wanted to talk to a variety of people so I figured it was be interesting to people who have different perspectives on their lives and how to live them, just by looking at them.
I was also able to interview the winner of Survivor: Africa, Ethan Zohan who was sponsoring an event that happened to be very meaningful to him. He is apart of an organization called Grassroot Soccer. A friend of his was also there recording the event on a video camera allowed me to have an interview with him as well. But as I had listened to them speak individually I found that even though they both found that this organization is important to them they had very different ideas about the meaning of their lives’.
I also was able to interview my mom and my younger brother. It was quite interesting to hear what my younger brother, Jin, had to say about how meaningful his life is because he is the youngest interviewee I had. I felt that he would have a new and fresh look on the world and the meaningful aspects of life. Which is completely true, unlike anyone else I was able to interview, Jin, was the only one who did not say friends were a meaningful aspects of his life but instead said that his bed was. Jin described his bed as being “a sanctuary” he does not like to share his bed with anyone else, it is very personal to him. He finds it peaceful and it should be a meaningful place because he “will spend one-third of his life sleeping,” it is a necessity of life.
A pattern that I noticed during my interviews was that most everyone said that family is a meaningful aspect of their life. I wonder why people say family is the most meaningful aspect of their life as if it is just something you say, like an automatic answer. For instance, if I were to ask someone, what are the most meaningful aspects of your life, the fist think to come out of their mouth is “family,” then there is a pause because they start thinking about other aspects of their life that are meaningful as well.
Although the homeless man on 18th street and Park Avenue and Ethan Zohan did not say that family was one of the most meaningful aspect of their lives, the homeless man said that “children are meaningful” and Ethan said that “the organization Grassroot Soccer is meaningful” to him. This is so because the homeless man and Ethan do not have family around them or mention a husband/wife/children, or have any sign that they were with family or married for that fact. Whereas the other interviewees all said that family is one of the most meaningful aspects of their lives’. (i.e. my mom, my younger brother, the woman walking to the deli, and the video man). The homeless man was not with any family or lives with any family. But he does notice the children of New York City and realizes “they are our future.” So he feels that children are a meaningful aspect of this life. Ethan on the other hand did not mention children as a meaningful aspect of his life but said that the organization he is apart of Grassroot Soccer is meaningful to him because it helps people in need. Ethan also did not have any family at the organization’s event unlike the cameraman who had his wife there.
It is one of those interesting things about life, where complete strangers think alike and yet have different beliefs or in other cases do not think alike at all.