Thank You

A quilt of the things that people are thankful for

By: Ryan Burns

Where to find this project?

In front of IV Theater. Look for the yellow note pad and papers. I hope ‘they’ don’t take it down for a little. I want to see if this positive action could be thrown away like trash by a cleanup crew. But hopefully not.

Now my thoughts about the project…

I’m not the biggest social activist in the world. Or at UCSB. Or on my floor in the residence hall. I see a lot of wrong in the world, but I don’t usually have any urge to step in and steer a situation in what I perceive to be the right direction.

That’s why this class has been such a struggle for me. ART 120SE. The ‘SE’ stands for social engagement. So for our final project, a community-oriented project that had to relate to Isla Vista, I decided to convince people to do something that we, frankly, never take the time to recognize.

I handed people who were standing or sitting by themselves a yellow note pad and a pen and asked them to list all of the things they were thankful for. I got a lot of confused looks at first, but almost everyone was willing to participate.

My goal was to get people to pause their lives and take that moment of calm to reflect on what they have or don’t have that make them happy.

The project was pretty personal for me because however simple the notion of giving thanks, it’s gotten me through the hardest times. Realizing all of the great things about life makes the shitty stuff feel a little less shitty.

In a college setting, especially, there’s a lot of shitty stuff for kids that are living on their own for the first time to deal with. We’re not the most reflective generation, nor are we the most gracious. But by forcing a moment of quiet thought, we set down our phones and laptops and tablets to become human, just for a second.