Rejection Proof: How I Beat Fear and Became Invincible Through 100 Days of Rejection by Jia Jiang

Author:Jia Jiang [Jiang, Jia]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
ISBN: 9780804141383
Publisher: Potter/TenSpeed/Harmony
Published: 2015-04-13T22:00:00+00:00

GIVE MY “WHY”

100 DAYS OF REJECTION: GIVING $5 TO RANDOM PEOPLE IN AUSTIN, AND TAKING PICTURES WITH STRANGERS IN NEW YORK CITY

“The best things in life are free, but you can keep them for the birds and bees. Now give me money, that’s what I want.”

—BARRETT STRONG IN THE SONG “MONEY”

Is money what people really want over anything else, as suggested in Barrett Strong’s classic song? If so, I figured that giving people money—with no strings attached—would be greeted with overwhelming acceptance. At least, that’s what I was thinking when I positioned myself on a busy street corner in downtown Austin and offered $5 bills to random strangers walking by. I didn’t tell them what I was doing. Instead, I just stood there with my hand out and asked them if they’d like five bucks, without giving them any reason.

In the interests of not draining my bank account, I offered the money to only five people. Here are the results:

Person #1: She was very happy and kept saying, “That was very sweet of you!” She also offered to “give it to somebody, too,” when she saw a person in need.

Person #2: She eyed me with some suspicion and asked me if there was a catch to my offer. After hearing that there was no catch, she smiled and took the money—but told me to come back and pick it up if I needed it.

Person #3: He flatly refused the offer, saying, “I don’t need $5.” Before walking away, he pointed toward a nearby homeless shelter. “There are plenty of guys on the street who would die to have $5. Why don’t you give it to them?”

Person #4: He asked me what the $5 was for. “Nothing,” I said. He walked away quickly.

Person #5: She also asked me what it was for. Again, I said, “Nothing.” She laughed uncomfortably and walked away.

In the end, two said yes, and three said no.

—

Soon after that, I took my visiting aunt on a trip to New York City—a city always bustling with people. Everywhere we went—Times Square, Central Park, the Empire State Building—we saw people posing for pictures. Many times, the person taking the photo would politely ask strangers to step out of the frame or simply wait until they’d passed by. It was as if everyone was striving to show they were the only people visiting these landmarks at that moment. Seeing this happen again and again, an idea came to mind. Since New Yorkers are as much a part of the fabric of New York as its buildings, why not ask random New Yorkers if I could pose with them on the street, with my aunt acting as the photographer?

Over the next few hours, I asked dozens of random people to pose with me. They varied widely by ethnicity, gender, and age. Some of them didn’t speak English very well. The only common factor was how I approached them. I told them that I wanted to take a photo with them because I believed that people are an integral part of a city.

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