The Postcard Experiment

It did sound a bit weird. I hesitated for a second, but then published the ad. After all, it was just an experiment. I was curious to see what would happen. Beyond family and close friends, kindness and affection are rarely for free. Everything is in exchange of something. Money, information, time, attention. Something. We pretend to be strong and numb to withstand that, even if in reality we are all incredibly vulnerable. In so-called mettā meditation, the focus lies on genuinely offering good will, kindness, and care to others in exchange of nothing. And that is where the ad came into play. I found an old postcard booklet and wondered how it would be to send them to random people to show them empathy and affection, without demanding anything in return. The ad was viewed 297 times, out of which five people contacted me. I will never know what an effect the postcard had on them, if any, but I hope that it made their day a little bit better, even if just for a moment.

The postcards are from a trip to Washington, D.C., back in 2014