I asked everyone for life advice for one day. This is what they told me.
It was a beautiful, gorgeous sunny day yesterday. The raw tendrils of sunlight were liquid golden drops on everything they touched, spilling loveliness onto my skin. It smelled like lilac and magnolias. People smiled.
It was nice. I was happy.
So I was feeling optimistic. The earth is gorgeous, and so are the people who inhabit it. Everywhere you walk, everywhere you look, all these myriad miniature worlds live inside other people. As Mr. Rogers once said, "Everyone you meet knows something you don't."
I am endlessly fascinated by other people. What incredible, intricate, complex beings each of us are. Two of us can be in the same space, sharing one interaction, but both of us are having entirely different experiences -- in fact, we live in entirely different worlds.
Even if this is the case (actually, much more because this is the case), people carry miniature kaleidoscope conglomerations of unusual, stained-glass Sunday-eyed fragments of perspective from their unique experience -- that I could never glean on my own, because I have not lived it. These are things we rarely think of -- and things they'd never tell us, these fragments. So I decided to ask.
So I decided to ask every person (almost every person) I encountered some variation of this question (and you can usually get away with all kinds of social weirdness if you say you're "writing a story"): "Hey, can I ask you something? If you had one piece of advice you wish you could give to every person on Earth navigating the human experience -- if you had one lesson you could share in just one sentence or one thing you've learned about living -- what would it be?"
People paused for a few seconds, bit their lips in self-reflection to consider, and then they gave me their answers.
Carlos, My Mailman
"Be real careful with women."
Ms. Rose, My Next-Door Neighbor
"Don't spend too much time working. Jobs will always be there, you can always get another job, but your family? You only got one."
John, Ticket Clerk at the VMFA
"Don't have expectations about anything, because it will never turn out like you imagined. Sometimes that's good though. So just don't have expectations."
Deandre, 7Eleven Cashier
"Open a savings account. Don't touch it. There's gonna be a day when you need that money, and you get your sh** together real quick so long as you like, invest in yourself. It's nice to not need people to help you, and everybody's struggling, but the 'bad economy' or getting laid off is not an excuse, it's still on you. Anybody can do it, I really believe that. And it feels real good when you get to."
Russ, Homeless Man
"Think before getting married."
'Ace,' Homeless Man
"Don't trust anybody wearing a tie."
Bobby, Aldi Cashier
"Stay out of politics."
Anthony, Bank of America Customer Service Phone Rep
"Appreciate people before they're gone. If you love your parents or somebody, you gotta tell them all the time."
Dustin, Bartender
"Do what you love. It might not make you money, but keep doing it."
MJ, Guy Who Flirted With Me on the Dance Floor
"Uh, I guess if I had to say one thing, I just wish people weren't so serious all the time. Like, I guess -- don't be serious. That's my advice."
Cody, Guy in the Smoking Section
"Invest in Bitcoin."
Emily, Person I Met In the Girls' Bathroom
"Do interesting stuff. Life is interesting because you're interesting. And don't worry about time or money that much, just live."
So we want to know: What would be your life advice for a stranger? What do you wish the whole world knew? Tell us in the comments below.
