What a cool idea, I thought. I first heard of the Humans of New York Instagram during my public presentation class last year. One of my classmates presented an informational speech on the account. Immediately after class (okay, maybe during), I looked it up, read a few stories and followed the page. While sometimes it's tough to keep up with all of the posts, I still keep up with many of them and take time to read the stories of the people inhabiting one of the world's greatest cities. And it never becomes boring.

The creator of HONY, Brandon Stanton, began the storytelling as a photographer capturing the people of New York through a picture. But sometimes the captions under the pictures are completely not what you'd expect when just looking at the photo. You may pass a person on the street wearing a seemingly ridiculous outfit and think to yourself, what a weirdo. But they have a story. They have a reason for the way they are and the things they do. And you can't know what that is just by looking at them. They say a picture is worth a thousand words, but how accurate are those words?

Our society endorses stereotypes too often. And to be honest, I've noticed that in some instances, they can come true. But not always, and Humans of New York proves that. Each story is so different and it's honestly amazingly eye-opening to see how people get to where they are in life and how they ended up in New York City.

Nearly everyone knows what it's like to be part of a stereotype. It's not fun. People judge you without even knowing what you're about. Stereotypes have the power to rob someone of an opportunity they deserve to have. Our society has prompted us to make choices based off of preconceived judgments and ideas which just doesn't make sense. We're all guilty of it, and we've all fallen victim to it. But it's not too late to change.

Allowing people to tell their stories and listening to those stories is one of the most important things we can do to combat stereotypes. It allows us to relate to one another on a personal level regardless of race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation and anything else that sets us apart. It allows us to understand each other and prevents us from judging people based on their looks alone.

Everyone has something to offer and Humans of New York brings that fact to light.