Harry Garside is becoming one of Australia’s most popular sports stars. Despite being so successful and famous at a young age, he is still driven to push himself beyond his comfort zone in order to learn more about himself and the world.
Since the beginning of 2019, the Australian boxer has been participating in what he refers to as an “uncomfortable challenge” once a month.
Garside recently decided to dress up as a vehicle window washer in order to get a taste of what it’s like to beg people for money at traffic lights. The Olympic bronze medalist documented his experience on Instagram.
“The inspiration behind this is that I’ve formed a relationship with someone I see daily who is a window washer,” Garside says in the video on his Instagram.
“I just want to see how uncomfortable it is asking people for money. All the money I get will go to someone who needs it more, but it’s more so to see how it feels.”
“I’ve disguised myself as best I can. I’m going to go for an hour, two hours. It’s currently raining in Sydney, it’s pretty cold, but this is what they put up with so what a good day to do it.”
Garside can be seen standing on the side of the road, going into vehicles, and offering to clean their windows in return for money in the video.
After completing his work for the day, he taped himself describing his feelings.
“I felt so naked out there. I was in a bad situation. It had a dehumanizing effect on me,” he said.
“Only three people took me up on the offer in the whole hour, but I could just see guilt in peoples’ eyes when they said ‘no’. In some peoples’ eyes, not everyone’s, I could see a bit of judgment – I don’t know if I’m reading into that too much.”
“A lot of the people that I see doing it are there every single day. They’re just as committed to what they’re doing as any other working person. It gave me a lot of empathy for them.”
“As I said, I felt pretty desperate, felt pretty naked. If you ever see anyone washing windows, 50 cents or a dollar to us means nothing, but it could mean everything to them.”
“If you feel like you’re someone who judges them then maybe just think about why you judge them. Maybe try to reframe it in your head because I felt pretty naked and desperate.”
Going out of his way to accomplishing something like this at the age of 24 is not only mature but also really amazing.
Fans flocked to the comments section of the video to show their support for the wonderful young guy.