love is the word

mission:

• tape a $5 bill to an atm machine

i think this mission was inspired by my homie gedeon who said when he first read this blog he felt inspired and left a couple bucks in a bart train.  that’s what’s up :)

i had a pretty full day yesterday (technically day before yesterday now as i’m writing this at 12.45am) with work, running home to not look like a scrub, and the art opening.  my energy has also been dwindling from fasting so i knew that yesterday i’d have to do something pretty low-key and quick.

when i went to LA i wasn’t sure what acts i was going to be doing for the weekend, but i decided to grab a roll of masking tape and throw it in my backpack.  don’t ask me why.  just thought it might be useful.  tell me why when i needed it yesterday, it mysteriously disappeared from my backpack?!  hmph.  so i got a tape dispenser scotch tape roll…that really sounds like a mouthful, whatever…and threw it in my camera bag.  of doom.

just kidding.

as the night carried on, i found myself getting tireder and tireder (which is officially not a word and i also officially don’t care).  i knew that i still needed to do my act for the day though.  i told brianna – aka my former crush aka my art opening date aka “the chocolate sensation” :D – that ‘i can’t forget to do my act tonight.  i have to do it on the way home, remind me.’  kind of funny the acts have become a custom and half the time i’m all “to-do list” about it.

i decided i was going to hit the mission @ valencia-ish bank of america atm on the way home.  i could have easily popped a 5 on the ATM downstairs at my office building, but that was way too boring and easy.  i don’t need to be paying for some chick’s latte.  ok, fine.  paying for a williams-sonoma can’t-afford-a-designer-bag-but-i-have-12-anyway employee dudette’s latte is nice, too, but i didn’t feel like being that kind of nice yesterday.

so when we got there, brianna went up to one atm to dispense some of her riches.  and i went up to the other and slapped a fiver with a purple minicard reading “mentor local youth” in an all caps labelmaker font.  i know i need to show images of the cards.  i will i will.

it was a fun, random little act.  and i get a kick out of thinking what the heck a person is going to think when they see a five dollar bill plastered to an atm.  it’d really be interesting to record various people’s reactions, as a sociological experiment (i like dissecting us humanfolk in that way).  i bet some people might to a double take and keep walking.  some people might just walk by thinking it was play money or a joke.

i always wondered how people might react to the money gedeon left on the train.  i feel like a lot of people might be inclined to think it fell out of someone’s pocket and may feel guilty taking it, thinking it wasn’t intended for them.  but then i totally had a mental image of some little kid finding it, delighted, being like ‘yeeeeee…i’m going to the corner store and getting me some bazooookas!’ …or whatever the candy of modern day tooth decay is.

at the atm.  i wonder what kind of people would decide against taking the money and why, and what kind of people would be inclined to take it and why.  and once that person actually took it and maybe read the note on the back of the minicard, would that change their initial view of their receipt of the money?  heheheh, a friend made a good point.  in just reading the url of the website on the back of the minicard, one could misconstrue the whole thing as some church mission or something.  love is the word.  sounds kinda churchy i guess.  preach!  the church of aaaaaooowwwwwww.  sorry.  the masjid of aaaaooowwwwww.  there.  i balanced out the ignorance.

i always surprise myself with these posts.  i’ve been eternally scared that they’d be like two words long: “i did this today.  yay.  patting self on back.”  yeah.  not what i wanted to do.  so, i’ve tried to add color.  and sometimes, by the time i’ve finished thoroughly coloring, i still haven’t gotten to the main point i wanted to make.  which this time around is this:

i’ve really tried avoiding doing acts that require the use of money.  or at least tried to do them sparingly, trying to make them somewhat meaningful/novel, and not as a cop of an act for the day.  just the same, i’ve been wary about writing about things like prayer, recycling, and listening because they don’t really fall into the traditional notion of the whimsical random act of kindness.  at the end of the day, kindness is kindness though.  i figure thoughtfulness on a breadth of issues and ideas would be of a greater reward to me and the readership – and i’m a fan of variety anyway.

still.  it just makes me really uncomfortable that a lot of the things on even my 101 random acts of kindness list require money.  most of them don’t require much money at all.  and several require the use of already bought items (which is essentially a sunk cost and doesn’t feel as bad as going out and spending money).  ok.  spending money on act of kindness isn’t bad, it is good.  well, it depends.  my concerns are:

1. the tendency to want to throw money at something to ‘fix it’ as well as the use of money as the easy way out for a lot of things
2. the fact that there numerous ways to be kind without the use of a dime and everyone should feel inspired and enabled to be openly kind without worrying about needing money to do it/regardless of financial means

what do you think?  there are more time involved things i’ve wanted to do that don’t necessarily require money, or require minimal money and are more thoughtful – i just haven’t found time to do them yet.  if any of you have ideas of something fun/thoughtful that you’d like to see me do and write about – please let me know!  while i welcome all ideas, any ideas that require a minimal time commitment are ideal.

i think small acts would be more palatable and realistic for readers to carry out for themselves if yall so chose.  let’s be real, we are all busy folks.  taking the time to do something more involved now and then is beautiful, which i am also aiming to do.  but i think the message that small things go a long way is really the thrust of the project.  ya diiiiggg?