Arguments May 30, 2010

Location: Toronto subway seat, Yonge line

Note:

Dear Perfect Stranger,

How are you feeling today? I hope you are doing well and if not, I hope that this note serves as a little pick-me-up during your day.

Have you ever been in an intense, long argument where you felt like you were both in a speeding car heading towards a brick wall and you were fighting over who would ride shot gun? You know, the kind of argument where you feel like no matter what you say, the other person isn’t going to budge. Rather, the more you argue, the more passionate you both seem to get about your stances. Do you ever get to the point though where you wonder why you’re even arguing?

Sometimes when you get right down to it, you both were saying the same thing in different words. Have you ever laughed about it later and agreed to agree? I think those are the best kinds of arguments. They teach us to listen more actively to what others are saying and to understand word choice.

Well, I hope that you can enjoy a good debate from time to time too.

Sincerely,

Your friendly picker upper 🙂

The Road Not Taken – Robert Frost May 29, 2010

Location: Marlowe Restaurant and Wine Bar (Richmond Hill location)

Note:

The Road Not Taken – Robert Frost

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveller, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth.

The took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same.

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I —
I took the one less travelled by,
And that has made all the difference.

Sincerely,

Your friendly picker upper

World Explorer

Location: Main St. Unionville bench

Note:

Dear Perfect Stranger,

How are you today? I hope that you are doing well and if not, I hope this note serves as a pick-me-up during your day. I’ve always wanted to be an explorer so here are some tips on how to be a world explorer that I found.

1. Always be LOOKING. (Notice the ground beneath your feet.)
2. Consider everything alive and animate.
3. EVERYTHING is interesting. LOOK CLOSER.
4. Alter your course often.
5. Observe for long durations (AND SHORT ONES).
6. Notice the stories going on around you.
7. Notice PATTERNS. Make CONNECTIONS.
8. DOCUMENT your findings (field notes) in a variety of ways.
9. Incorporate indeterminacy.
10. Observe MOVEMENT.
11. Create a personal dialogue with your environment. TALK TO IT.
12. Trace things back to their ORIGINS.
13. Use ALL of the senses in your investigations.

Enjoy your exploring of the world! Have a good day :).

Sincerely,
Your friendly picker upper

I am a world May 27, 2010

Location: Sparta Court mailbox

Note:

Dear Perfect Stranger,

How are you today? I hope this note serves as  a little pick-me-up during your day. I recently read a quote that said, “you don’t just live in a world but a world lives in you.”

Do you realize how profound that is? I have a world in me. I am a world. I have continents, countries and cities. I have buildings that house the memories I’ve made with people I have come across. I have rivers, lakes and oceans of tears shed in both sadness and happiness. I have great big trees and little trees of stories I’ve seen and heard. I have a population – the people in my life. I have a religion and beliefs. I have an economy. I have war, battles and conflicts. I have mountains of obstacles. I can give life and I can mourn death. My body houses ecosystems working together to create this world. I have the moon and stars in my eyes that glow. I have people, families. I have foreigners. I have immigrants, emigrants and tourists. I have a creator and I will have a destroyer. I have a history. I have time, I have years. I have differences. I have beauty and ugliness. Yes, I am a world. You too are a world. We all are.

Have a good day.

Sincerely,

Your friendly picker upper

Expiration Dates May 26, 2010

Location: Beaches boardwalk

Note:

Dear Perfect Stranger,

How are doing today? I hope that you are doing well and if not, I hope this note serves as a little pick-me-up during your day.

I know that this note won’t show the nicest side of me, but it will be honest. I can talk to a person every single day for weeks or months on end, maybe even years and never talk to them again. There are many possible reasons for this. Maybe we had a fight. Maybe we moved away from each other. Maybe we just drifted apart. Whatever the reason, both of us must not care enough to make an extra effort to continue the friendship. It happens. It’s  normal.

Maybe I just needed to have that person in my life to help me through a certain phase. Whenever that phase is over, for whatever reason, so is the friendship. They don’t move on with me to the next phase in life. Their contributions don’t transfer over. They don’t change cities with me. They just don’t change because I do. I don’t enter into these friendships anticipating expiration dates, I just know that one might exist.

Sincerely,

Your friendly picker upper

Other Civilizations

Location: Announcement board outside of Toronto Public Libraries – Beaches Branch

Note:

Dear Perfect Stranger,

I was reading a book called ‘A Short History of Nearly Everything’ and would like to share an excerpt of it with you. Oops, I forgot to mention that the book is by Bill Bryson.

What an interesting and exciting thought. We may be only one of millions of advanced civilizations. Unfortunately, space being spacious, the average distance between any two of these civilizations is reckoned to be at least two hundred light years, which is a great deal more than merely saying it makes it sound. It means, for a start, that even if these beings know we are here and are somehow able to see us in their telescopes, they’re watching light that left Earth two hundred years ago. So they’re not seeing you and me. They’re watching the French Revolution and Thomas Jefferson and people in silk stockings and powdered wigs – people who don’t know what an atom is, or a gene, and who make their electricity by rubbing a rod of amber with a piece of fur and think that’s quite a trick. Any message we receive from these observers is likely to begin “Dear Sire,” and congratulate us on the handsomeness of our horses and our mastery of whale oil.

The book is a great read. I hope you have a great day.

Sincerely,

Your friendly picker upper

Beauty May 24, 2010

Location: Polar Bar at Main St. Unionville

Note:

“People often say that ‘beauty is in the eye of the beholder,’ and I say that the most liberating thing about beauty is realizing that you are the beholder. This empowers us to find beauty in places where others have not dared to look, including inside ourselves.” — Salma Hayek

Questions

Location: Water fountain at Middlefield Park

Note:

Dear Perfect Stranger,

How are you doing today? I hope that this note serves as a little pick-me-up during your day.

I’d like to tell you about something I believe. There comes a time in all of our lives where our thoughts, beliefs and actions become our own responsibility. I know we’ve all been taught for years and years that we are responsible for our own actions. I think as children that is not always the case but to teach responsibility also teaches children to accept blame without deferral. What I am really concerned about though are the beliefs that we all carry. Sure, one can believe that their religion or beliefs are true and juste because that is what they were brought up with but, does that really make it the final answer? I think that we all get to a point where as mature individuals, it is our responsibility to question the beliefs and laws that govern us. We can’t always be told things and automatically agree to it. If theses beliefs are in fact true they should stand up sufficiently to logical questioning. So I implore you to do your part and to question your beliefs then decide what is right and what isn’t. Be responsible.

Sincerely,

Your friendly picker upper

Clarification

During the past few weeks of living at home, I have realized something: I don’t really know anything about anything. The older I become, the more I’ve come to understand the expression ‘the more you learn, the less you know.’ What I have learned is that unfortunately, life can’t be broken up into convenient little subjects like science, history, geography and math. Life lessons aren’t taught in school or by your parents. Life lessons seem to be learned through life experiences.

Knowing this, I also know that I haven’t experienced much. I haven’t experienced heart-break. I haven’t experience true adversity. Even as a somewhat independent student, I’ve been really lucky to have family and friends who have skilfully protected me from stressful and difficult situations. I have parents who have always been there to buffer the tension of financial worries. And every time I’ve failed or even come close to failing, someone has always been there to pick me up and help me get back on my feet again.

So as much as I’d like to declare myself an authority on life, I can’t. I have to get off my moral high horse and leave judgement to those more experienced. I have to clear my slate and start from the beginning. Because really, what do I know anyways?

So then what are these notes? If I really don’t know anything then why do I write about life and beauty and chance? Well, perhaps one could look at these notes as field notes, notes of observations and conclusions that I have come across while living life. They are lessons that I’ve learned or things that I’ve seen that I’d like to share with others. Maybe that makes these notes boring but to me, that just makes these notes more genuine.

Chances May 18, 2010

Location: ATM machine

Note:

Dear Perfect Stranger,

How are you doing today? I hope that this note serves as a little pick-me-up during your day.

I have a question for you. Do you, Perfect Stranger feel lucky? Have you been awarded the fortune of having many, many chances to do whatever it is that you want to accomplish? Were you given choices growing up? Did you make the right ones? How do you even know if the choices you made were the right ones? If you’re lucky, you’ve had plenty of chances but some of us aren’t so lucky. Sometimes, we only get a few chances in our short lifetimes. If we never take advantage of those chances how will we ever forgive ourselves? I’m not saying that you, Perfect Stranger, should take every chance you get. I’m just saying that sometimes its the right choice because you never know if you’ll get another. So I leave you friend with a piece of advice – take chances, take risks, do what’s right for you. Have a good day 🙂

Sincerely,

Your friendly picker upper