One Good Meal

One of the things I have noticed about these little books I make to collect petitions in, is that people are interested in reading what others have written. I think as they thumb through the pages to find a blank one they realize others are in there and they begin reading them. Some entries are profound, like 'one good meal a day.' (This particular one, I think, came from a NYC cashier in a chain drug store, it has fallen out of the book and lost to me, but I remember it just the same.) And a 7 year old girl petitioned for a playground, then changed her mind and wrote "daddy". (Her father had recently died.)  In the vast majority of 'petitions' there is an element of self reflection that is reached quickly when given the space, as though the thought is bubbling near the surface waiting to pop through. Part of the process is the spontaneous response to the question. Not everyone is interested in participating, though, or participating without thinking about it.