A few years ago, I was hiking in Hollywood’s Runyon Canyon and I came upon this woman sitting on a bench, holding the sign you see here. I didn’t know if it was a religious thing, an affirmation thing, a dare or whether she was a part of an art project or social experiment by a psychologist hiding in nearby bushes.

Her message: You are perfect.

Other hikers, reaching this first plateau in the hills, looked at the woman, read her sign and reacted to her like she was something to be scraped off their shoes.

Me, I was intrigued. I didn’t ask her to explain what her sign meant, but I thought to myself how nice that someone would sit there sending a positive message like that. Who cares what the purpose was? The important thing isn’t always why something is being said. The key is just that it was said in the first place.