"We can take care of each other."

Craigslist Joe REVIEW.

Ayn Rand, Introducing Objectivism - “Man—every man—is an end in himself, not a means to the ends of others; he must live for his own sake, neither sacrificing himself to others nor sacrificing others to himself; he must work for his rational self-interest, with the achievement of his own happiness as the highest moral purpose of his life.”

Paul, Letter to the Philippians - “Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.”

Joe Garner decides to conduct an experiment that essentially tests whether or not Ayn Rand or Paul have the upper hand in American society today. He cuts himself off from all his friends and family, leaves all his money and possessions behind (with the exception of his new phone and a laptop) and sets out to live (for a month) off the connections he can make on Craigslist. He finds a cameraman on Craigslist to follow him around for that month and the rest is … well history.

“Some say we have lost the sense of community that used to carry us through tough times,” he speculates in the opening scene and proves conclusively in the course of the month that this is not entirely so.  His story is a story of dozens of people willing to share, to help, to take him in. Some of them, granted, seem dubious. Some seem borderline crazy. By the time you are done you realize that most of the people who help people in the margins are, in some way, people in the margins themselves. Often he is helped by people in need of help.Perhaps they best understand the need to keep the Good Samaritan story alive in the hearts of the community that they struggle to succeed in.

I would love to see someone do a follow up and find out just why each of the people who volunteered to help him along the way did what they did for an “angel unaware.”

You can watch the trailer HERE.

You can watch the movie HERE.

Question for Comment: Would you let your kids do this? Why or why not?