“Many years ago I had a martial arts master from Korea. It was just like in the movies—he’d make me do crazy things like carry buckets of water up flights of stairs. He was very unaccepting of apathy. I was young at the time, so when he’d asked me a question, I’d often answer by shrugging, or saying ‘I don’t know’ or ‘I guess.’ Then one day, he told me: ‘You never give me straight answer. Your life is too complicate. I make simple for you. Do you want to be weak or strong?’

I said, ‘Strong.’

‘Do you want to be slow or fast?’

‘Fast.’

‘Do you want to be smart or stupid?’

‘Smart.’

‘Do you want to be alive or dead?’

‘Alive.’

‘You shrug one more time, you’ll want to be dead.’”

Taken from Humans of New York