Neighborhood groups on Facebook no doubt begin with the best of intentions. At best, they connect residents to one another and act as entry points for newcomers. At worst, they become caricatures. One of these in a neighboring town inspired a satirical version in which people request unlicensed, unreliable, and expensive contractors. They’re having fun with it.

The various Hartford neighborhood groups on Facebook are less obsessed with home renovation and more likely to host gripes about panhandling. Occasionally, these grievances are attached to questions about how the askers can actually be helped, but usually, these posts are about how to remove poverty and addiction from our peripheral vision.

One fine, unseasonably warm morning while walking to work, I stopped off at a Dunkin Donuts (because: budget and that was the one coffee place that I’d pass on my route) to grab whatever calories would help me make the several mile round trip. I had a quirky, but pleasant interaction with a stranger during that brief stop. Because I mostly walk to get to wherever I’m going, I pass strangers all the time and have many opportunities for conversation. Chatting with random people on the street is literally how I have met half my friends. So, it’s not abnormal in my world to talk to strangers and have those conversations be mostly positive.

Hopped up on DD chai, I got an idea. Today, I would troll hard.

It would not be challenging. The dozens of grumbles I’d read about panhandlers nearly all followed the same template: “Today I was ______ and this person asked me for ___________. [Insert verbiage that shows discomfort or anger with situation] Has this happened to anyone else?”

Shooting fish in a barrel.

As soon as I sat down, I strung a few words together and posted them to one of the neighborhood sites:

Those who know me well immediately could tell something was up. Those who didn’t, well, there were a few people who thought this was post was serious. I was hoping that people would actually share examples of positive encounters they have had with strangers who wanted nothing more than to give a compliment or ask for something that was not financial. The thread went in some interesting directions.

This isn’t about being pollyannaish.

I read the arrest log daily and check out the crime stats weekly. My travels take me by crime scenes and the aftermath of car crashes, not daily, but not rarely either. Like every other woman on the planet who spends any time in an urban environment, I get catcalled and told to smile. I’m asked for money, by strangers, almost daily. My house is in view of Park Street. I’ve seen some shit.

But, we see what we look for.

Convinced everything is going to hell, that everybody is greedy and rotten? Then no doubt you will confirm those beliefs by blocking out evidence do the contrary. Decide you’re going to post about this to social media for the purpose of venting? Now you’re reinforcing someone else’s bias, no doubt helped along by lopsided local reporting that too often paints the impression that Hartford (and other cities) are these epicenters of filth and sin and wrecked dreams. People are more likely to weigh in when they are having negative feelings; they also tend to ignore scientific proof that they are unlikely to encounter all of the horrible things they are worried about. Logic does not work, so perhaps something else will slowly begin to chip away at negative expectations.