Sometimes everyone needs a smile, good laugh, someone to pray for, or something to really think about and Humans of New York, or HONY, can offer that. HONY is a Facebook page that all started when Brandon Stanton, who lost his job back in 2010, began photographing random people in the streets of New York. Then, out of interest, he started asking them questions about themselves and from there he would record the answers and post them with the picture as part of his blog.

The hundreds of thousands of posts vary from a child’s excitement, to an adult’s job loss, to a person’s homelessness. I believe a reason as to why this blog has grabbed so much popularity is because the people in the posts are real, off the street people. They are just like you and me, fighting their own battles, dealing with their own issues whether they’re big or small. The people in HONY are authentic and easy to relate to.

Another great aspect of HONY is that it does not discriminate. In society, some people are sensitive when talking about certain social aspects such as gay marriage or racial issues. But posts on HONY could be about lesbians, or a man struggling with a drug addiction, or a person who has attempted suicide. It puts everything out there for the world to see. HONY does not sugarcoat sad or aggressive posts, which is exactly how humanity is.

While scrolling through HONY I not only notice the thousands and thousands of likes on each picture but also the uplifting comments that people around the world post. It’s great to see how one picture can bring so many wonderful comments about life, and how supportive total strangers are to one another. One of the most popular comments on HONY lately was when Hilary Clinton commented on a post about a young boy who is dealing with the fact that he is gay.

Humans of New York is doing great things all over the world, if you want to check out the Facebook page here's the link: https://www.facebook.com/humansofnewyork?fref=ts.