not done yet 10/10/08

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’.