Since Brandon started his project in 2010, he has been capturing amazing stories from the people from NYC. Today, he does the same thing around the world. This article, compiles 15 of the most inspiring and moving posts from “Humans Of New York”. Enjoy this little emotional break in our fast and stressful lives.
1.
“When my husband was dying, I said: ‘Moe, how am I supposed to live without you?’ He told me: ‘Take the love you have for me and spread it around.’”
2.
“I’m going home to see my mother.” “Oh, is it her birthday?” “Nope. I just love my mother, and she loves flowers.”
3.
My last wife was 47 years older than me.” “47 years???” “Yep. We met when she was 80 and I was 33. She came to the nursing home where I worked, and everyday she would spend six hours with her dying husband. I said to myself: ‘If she ever loves me like that, I’ll be OK.’ We married a couple years later, and stayed together until she died at the age of 96. If I had any money, I’d make a movie about it.”
4.
“When I told my mom that I was going to rehab, she was about to catch a flight to her 40th High School Reunion. I told her: ‘I guess you won’t be bragging about me to your friends.’ She said: ‘Actually, I’ve never been prouder of you.’”
5.
“I’m glad I had a daughter. Ever since my grandmother died, I’ve needed the female energy in my life. It’s good energy. I mean, when things go wrong, another man can tell you that everything is going to be OK. But not like a woman can.”
6.
“Right after I lost vision in my eye, I was so bad at walking that I ran into a girl eating ice cream, and knocked her cone out of her hand. She screamed: ‘Are you blind!?!?’ I turned to her and said: ‘I am blind actually, I’m so sorry, I’ll buy you a new cone.’ And she said: ‘Oh my God! I’m so sorry! Don’t worry! It’s no problem at all! I’ll buy another one.’ So we walked into the ice cream store together, and the clerk said: ‘I heard the whole thing. Ice cream is free.’”
7.
“What’s your greatest struggle right now?” “No struggles.”
8.
“What do you want to be when you grow up?” “A big boy.”
9.
“I want to be an artist.” “What kind of art do you want to make?” “I want to make different versions of myself.”
10.
“He plays with me.”
11.
“I’m homosexual and I’m afraid about what my future will be and that people won’t like me.”
12.
“Who’s influenced you the most in your life?”
“My principal, Ms. Lopez.”
“How has she influenced you?”
“When we get in trouble, she doesn’t suspend us. She calls us to her office and explains to us how society was built down around us. And she tells us that each time somebody fails out of school, a new jail cell gets built. And one time she made every student stand up, one at a time, and she told each one of us that we matter.”
13.
“Every week I get one dollar for allowance. Then I get to choose the section where I put my dollar. There are four sections: spend, save, donate, and invest. If I put a dollar in the ‘invest section,’ my parents give me two extra pennies at the end of every month. I’ve only used my ‘spend section’ twice! I have way over $10 in my ‘invest section.’ I used to have more but I took some money out and put it in my ‘donate section.’ We used to it to buy food for people who don’t have much money in their ‘spend section.'”
14.
“I was raped by my cousin when I was seven. He was a teenager. We were sleeping in the same bed when it happened. I could have run away but I didn’t. Why didn’t I stop it? Does that mean I kind of liked it? Is that why I didn’t tell anyone? It got even more confusing when I grew up and realized I was gay.”
15.
“Mom turns 103 this August. I try to spend four afternoons a week with her. There are a lot of things she doesn’t remember. But she’s great with nursery rhymes and songs. So we come down here and sing the ones that she remembers.”
Images Source: Humans Of New York