52 People

Continued from Part I…

4) What do you want more of in your life?

“Time to travel… Time and money to travel.”

5) What is the greatest accomplishment of your life?

“My family.”

6) What makes you sad?

“More melancholy than sad… bad day of work can. Things with my family. Nothing in particular sticks out as making me really sad. I would get upset by stuff like that, but sad is more… again the way I interpret it is more personal…nothing in particular, I can’t say anything gets me…no, I’m a fairly easy going guy.”

7) What is the most difficult thing you’ve ever experienced?

“Boy, you’ve got tough questions here. I haven’t had to think of this stuff for a lot of years’. Nothing comes to mind immediately…One of my children went through some very difficult times at one part of her life, which had an impact on the whole family; so that’s what comes to mind right now. I would say that, or any difficulties that my children have encountered; certainly for the last, soon to be, 30 years of my life. That’s probably what comes to mind.”

What is great about you? 

“I’m a good person and a good father, I guess is what I’d consider to be great about me.”

Come back on Friday for Part III!

 Loading ...

A few condiments sat huddled together, the last remnants of what was at one time a fridge rife with a variety of fresh foods. I stood peering inside, hoping to find a few complimentary items that might combine to make something edible. Lacking success, I conceded, and went to the grocery store in search of provisions.

Before I started tossing items into my basket, I figured I’d take a stroll around to see if there was any prospective strangers. My attention was caught by a long line of people standing in the hallway outside of the produce section. Curious to see what the commotion was about, I decided to explore further. As I rounded the corner, the flashing blue screen jumped out at me, “43 Million Dollars!” 

The allure of financial freedom sucked me in as I joined the congregation of dream seekers. I took my place in line, observing the wide eyed people around me entranced by the thought of holding the winning numbers.

Standing directly in front of me was stranger number three. Like a jungle cat stalking his prey, I formulated the plan inside my head. As he paid for his ticket and turned to leave, I pounced. Ok, it wasn’t quite like that, but I approached him before he walked away. At first, I wasn’t sure I was going to get him, but I made the pitch and he cautiously agreed.

Stranger number three is a high school teacher, father and husband, who we’ll call Mr. Keating. 

1) If you could create your dream job what would it be?

“My dream job at this time would be probably some sort of travel consultant where I’d have to travel to a lot of different countries and experience a lot of different cultures.”

2) What fulfills you?

 “I’m a teacher and that’s part of what fulfills me; and so I enjoy my job, and my family and friends and that kind of stuff… What we call the ‘ah ha!’ moment when kids are learning something that you’re trying to teach.”

3) What is your greatest fear?

“I would say that people will find out that I haven’t reached my fullest potential.”

Check back Wednesday for part II…

…Continued from Monday

4.) What do you want more of in your life?

“To see more. I’ve seen a lot, but I want to see more of the world. Meet more people and get more experiences under my belt. I mean, I don’t want to go running with the bulls. I don’t have a death wish…just more experiences.”

5.) What is the greatest accomplishment of your life?

“This last trip to Brazil. In the sixth grade we did a project in Brazil and I’ve always wanted to go. I swam in the amazon river, went piranha fishing, and surfing.I guess doing the snowboard thing, golfing, those are all things. Just getting myself to the point where I am now, just as a whole and just continue building that.”

6.) What makes you sad?

“I’m a sucker for other people being upset. I hate seeing other people suffer. I’m always wanting to help them laugh or cheer them up in some way. I’m more than happy to sit down and talk with people and listen for a few hours. People will say ‘oh you’re the last person I should be complaining to’. But, everybody has their down days. You’re allowed to feel sorry for yourself. I don’t care if your griping to someone who has no arms and no legs, If you’re having a shitty day, your having a shitty day. Gripe!”

7.) What is the most difficult thing you have ever experienced?

“I’ve had a pretty easy life in the grand scheme of things. The worst thing was when my five year old cousin passed away from cancer and two months later another one of my cousins. She was three and in a wind storm, blew over a tree and it landed on her and killed her. They were two funerals where the coffin wasn’t big enough to have six pallbearers. Somebody that young isn’t supposed to be dying. There is no justifiable reason why a three year old girl who never had an opportunity to do wrong in her life has had her life cut short. Then you see bad people doing bad things and it seems like they live to be ninety five years old and they never seem to get anything as bad as a cold.”

Check back Friday for Chris’ remaining answers…in the meantime, check out our latest poll!

 Loading ...

How different would your life be if you were born with no arms and no legs?

I kissed my wife goodbye as she walked through the security gates to board a plane headed for Frankfurt, Germany. As she disappeared through the doors my intention turned towards engaging a stranger in a meaningful conversation. 

As I wandered about the airport I was dismayed at how empty it appeared. The airport was a place where I thought finding a solo stranger would be like picking apples from an orchard.

Like a slow moving boat I continued to troll the area until I spotted a young, sharply dressed man reading a book. Not nearly as awkward as last week, I eloquently attempted to enroll his company. “Sorry, I’ve got to leave in five minutes, but it sounds interesting” he explained apologetically . There it is…my first rejection. 

I walked the length of the airport and amongst the smattering of people was unable to find anyone sitting alone. I was just about to pack up and consider another venue until I ran into Chris Koch. I didn’t have to do much selling as Chris enthusiastically agreed to sit down and answer my questions.

Chris Koch is a 29 year old West Jet airport ambassador, Ranch hand, War Amps consultant, and stranger number two in “52 people”.

1.) If you could create your dream job what would it be?

“It would involve a lot of traveling and a lot of interaction with people. There is this travel show idea (another friend) and I have. I’d love to get paid to travel the different places of the world. Do neat activities, and meet all kinds of people. With traveling it’s neat just to meet people and visit with people and see the world. If I could get paid to do that, Great…perfect.”

2.) What fulfills you?

“I have a lot of interests and a lot of passions and even when I think I’ve figured out what they all are I come across something else where I think ‘holy crap’ thats neat. I love people. I love the interaction. Being outdoors…I love being outside. Fresh air and experiencing stuff. Pushing myself.”

“When I’m not here I work with my brother on a ranch and I’ll jump on a tractor for a few hours. Or, if we’re digging trenches for underground wires I’ll grab a shovel and I’ll dig two feet under for a ten foot long trench. I’ll do all those kind of things, and I like doing those kind of things because most people would think ‘He wouldn’t be able to do that’, then I do it.”

“I like pushing myself. Traveling, sports; I snowboard, ski and golf. Those things fulfill me. I guess in all of that, accomplishing something that a lot of people might not see someone like myself accomplishing.”

3.) What is your greatest fear?

“I don’t want to live life and just be another blip on the radar screen. I want to be somebody who made a difference. Who people looked up too and fed off of. When I accomplish something, I want to go further. I don’t want to just do something. If I do something people say ‘oh that’s cute, a little a guy with no arms and no legs tried surfing’. No, I want to go surfing and do it well so people can say wow that guys good!”

…To Be Continued on Wednesday

Continued from Part I…

6. What makes you sad? 

“Seeing people or animals in pain. The injustices in the world… that pains me a great deal. I can watch a commercial and cry. I’d like to see a bit more compassion.”

7. What is the most difficult thing you’ve ever experienced?

“My mother’s death.” 

8. What is great about you?

“I have a real sense of compassion. I have a great deal of compassion. I’m very bright, but that’s not important that’s just my brain. I have a real sense of lovingness and gentleness that I think is kind of unique. I’m more of a spiritual person, so a lot of the physical stuff doesn’t matter to me.”

9. Who are you? 

“I think I’m just here on this planet to kind of help people bring some  light into this world and learn my own lessons. I’m just trying to make this word a better place, so I think  that’s my focus.”

10. What question do you want me to ask you now?

“Are you willing to tell me the same thing about you. It’s easy being the observer, but what are you willing to give up?”

____________________________________________________________

I feel like the universe gifted me stranger number one. Jane was so willing and open with her answers and made it easy on me doing my first interview. I thank her for that.

I’d like to discuss an interesting relationship between two of Jane’s answers.

Jane’s greatest fear is being hurt by love. I could feel the pain in her voice as it softened while she uttered “…being hurt by love”. I also find it interesting how she chooses a career surrounding herself with the unconditionality of animals. I wonder if Jane’s fear influences her career choice. Or is dog walking where she can give as much love as she wants and get it back in return? This is fascinating to me. I would  like to reflect on what role my greatest fear plays in influencing my day to day life.

I’m going to leave you with this poll and on Friday I’ll discuss Jane a bit more and I’ll dive into what my greatest fear is and where it may or may not show up in my life.

 Loading ...

Nervousness, excitement, and uncertainty accompanied me while in search of stranger number one of fifty two. I had my questions in my pocket along with my digital voice recorder. All I needed was stranger number one. I had woke up in the morning with a fresh feeling of new beginnings, or perhaps it was nervous energy about the looming encounters awaiting my questions. It was my 32nd birthday and the first day of 52 people.

The chosen venue was the dog park. I picked a time mid morning when I figured there wouldn’t be many people, and I might cross paths with a solitary dog walker.  There was much less activity than I’d hoped for but just when I thought I’d have to develop an alternative plan we were greeted by Jane. Jane, I’d estimate was somewhere in her mid to late thirties. We walked together for quite a while, most of which I talked to myself inside my head. “Ask her…. do it now”, I repeated to myself. It was like I was in junior high school and desired so badly to ask a girl to dance but the nerves had me shackled. Instead we walked in mostly silence as we watched the dogs wrestle and chase each other. My internal struggle lasted for quite some time before I finally broke the silence by loudly blurting”I have a question for you!” Seriously? thats what I just said, oh no! she’s going to quickly call her dogs over here to protect her!

Much to my surprise she looked over at me politely as I attempted to recover by explaining my experiment, then made my sales pitch. I sensed a bit of hesitation, but she agreed. Here we go!

1. If you could create your dream job what would it be? 

“I’m already doing it…a dog walker. And I would like to do more with it, more animal communication and working with horses. Working with animals in a healing capacity. Animals are more in touch with the source and they are unconditional right? Just to be more in tune with that… uhm, I just merge with that energy”.

2. What fullfills you?

“Oh dear. merging with the other side. Earth is very 3D limited, you get people and politics and stuff like that. Merging more with the source I suppose. I’m a very idealistic person so it would be nice to be merging more with that. The better side of people. So, for me if you want to talk about the god or whatever, but that bliss over on the other side. That satisfies me a great deal when I can get in tune with that”.

3. What is your greatest fear?

 “Love… being hurt by love”.

4. What do you want more of in your life?

 “I could do with a bit more money. To finish fixing up my house, pay off some debt and sharing it with some friends who need it”.

5. What is the greatest accomplishment of your life?

 “I think my life. I have had a very interesting life. How I’ve developed myself, I’m pretty proud of that. I’ve taken risks I’ve done a lot of things, unconventional things and I think at the end of the day from where I started to where I am now I’ve done a good job”.

Check back Wednesday for part II…

How does 52 People fit into what Driven by Passion does? Although this experiment took place prior to the development of the Super-Hero Concept, I believe it illustrates one of the greatest super powers every individual on this planet has; the ability to connect authentically with others at any moment, in any place. This is a gift that we all possess in equal sums. If you have no idea what I’m talking about, I encourage you to read on… you’ll find that the greatest super powers we possess are so easily accessed.

What is 52 people? A social experiment searching for meaningfulness.

Ok, let me explain a little more. 

My best friend left this world a stranger to me. He fought cancer for over five years and I was along his side for the struggle between remission and relapse before he succumbed to the disease. I spent many of my waking moments with him, but held deep regret after he passed on because I never really knew him. We stuck to the surface of our conversations because it was safe. I felt my job as his best friend was to shelter him from the reality of his sickness. I thought we could coast along happily avoiding any conversation that might cause emotional discomfort. The most painful thing about losing him was my realization that I never really knew him. I mean REALLY knew him.

How many of you REALLY know the people closest to you?

Until I started researching and developing this blog, I have to be honest, I had no idea as to the depth of my parents, siblings, and friends and what makes them truly tick. That is until I asked them my 10 questions.

We spend so much time with these people but for some reason we rarely stop to listen to what they want from life or what drives their anger or sadness, or we never ask. To complicate things, the proliferation of networking tools like facebook, or myspace have almost made the phone call or face to face conversation obsolete. So, 52 people is an experiment, it is a challenge, and hopefully a demonstration that can inspire people to have more meaningful relationships.

The premise of 52 people is as follows:

In a world of electronic relationships, how willing will someone be to sit down with a complete stranger and answer 10 insightful questions.

The Format:

I will approach complete strangers (one per week) in attempt to ask them 10 questions. The blog entries will be the adventures of the ensuing rejection and connection.

The Result:

I hope I can connect with 52 people and inspire them to connect with the people in their lives. I hope this inspires the visitors to this blog to ask these questions and have meaningful conversations with their loved ones. I also expect to stretch myself, challenge myself to approach as many different people to get many different answers.

The Questions:

These aren’t the only questions to ask in order to get meaningful answers. I do like these questions because they are simple, yet force the recipient to look deep inside, quite often to places they have wandered far from, or have never been. Some of these are questions coaches may use early on and during a coaching relationship.

1. If you could create your dream job what would it be?  

2. What fullfills you? 

3. What is your greatest fear? 

4. What do you want more of in your life? 

5. What is the greatest accomplishment of your life? 

6. What makes you sad? 

7. What is the most difficult thing you’ve ever experienced?  

8. What is great about you?  

9. Who are you? 

10. What question do you want me to ask you now? 

I end with:

Will you be willing to ask the people in your life these same questions? 

I am excited about this experiment and hope you find inspiration and enjoyment while spending the next 52 weeks with me on this journey. Feel free to offer suggestions or send me feedback, or better yet let me know about the answers you get from your loved ones.

Meaningful relationships are developed by having meaningful conversations. Start with these questions and let the conversation go from there. Don’t let the people closest to you leave the world as strangers, ask the questions and listen for the answers…

Check back on  Monday for my first connection!

Jayson Krause