I took part in Buy Nothing Day and actually took my own personal plunge as to write my city a letter when I recieved a parking ticket that Friday. Needless to say, I've yet to hear from anybody. Here it is:

To the city of Long Beach;
To whom it may concern,
Or to whom who may not be concerned at all:

I apologize for your disappointment, being that you did not receive any money in this envelope. If there had been, buttons would be pressed on the computer, numbers entered, money wired, check cleared, and you would have gone on with your day with some sort of satisfaction that a job was completed. Success. I understand this was not part of the job description, and it may very well be a violation. Or maybe you could just care less. Today though, if you would like to invite a little stimulation to your day, need a change of pace or just enjoy a good story, I’d love to interact with you.
How is your day going so far? Do you have anything exciting planned today or maybe just a nice cozy night in. Have you done anything new in a while, like a read a book or ride a bike? When is the last time you lit a candle or called an old friend? Did you see yourself here in this place at this time reading this letter five years ago? Where do you really want to be right now, tomorrow or in five years? But mostly, right now. Because that will never change. It will always be just right now. And I really appreciate that your right now, is right here with me.
I’d much rather tune in to the person’s concerns in front of letter than have them get to know mine. You’re aware of mine. I’m the one who got the ticket. There’s no use in blabbing about my opinion of the city’s poor planning or the uncanny ratio between legality vs. morality or why I do not have money or that we could have taken a homeless man out to a steak dinner or why the city should dismiss my ticket. I know you don’t care, why should you? Your job is to collect money for the city and get on with your day so you, yourself, can collect your own every two weeks. I don’t blame you, how could I? I do the exact same thing. So we can pay the exact same bills, pay for the exact same groceries and pay for the exact same other mishaps that life likes to throw it us.
But today is different. I didn’t pay my ticket and you’re reading a letter instead of clearing the system of my ticket. You have to admit, it is a little more interesting. So what’s the point? Despite the entertainment of possibly interacting with a beautiful new human being instead of check marking off society’s do’s and don’ts’ checklist for the day, nothing. It’s exhilarating. Maybe one day the universe will bring us together and we will actually have something to talk about. It would have never happened without this letter. 99% of the time, you open these up with some sort of payment from a person who you don’t even think twice about, who they are, or what their life is like, because all you know is that their obligation was to pay, and your obligation is to complete the task. My obligation, is for this letter to typed. God forbid this letter was sent through a machine before it could land in the hands of a human to collect “it’s” money for the “city.” Machine reads ERROR because it was built to only recognize money payments. Machine was built by humans, to only recognize money. Because if Machine were built to read and recognize letters, Machine would develop some sort of fastidiously moral apparatus, some might call a soul; inevitably returning any received payments. But why would that make sense?
Intentions at one point may have been genuine. But if it at any or many points in time you wanted to quit, not pay your bills or just take a nap, it might be time to switch it up. This is the case for me at least. I’m jumping off the conveyer belt to see what happens. There’s only one thing that could happen after you jump ,and that is fall. At least after I do that, I will have a lot more time to think for myself from myself rather than from any other source. I’ll be able to question why we’ve isolated ourselves into million dollar dungeons, that we sell our souls to live in. I’ll be able to paint and read a book whenever I want to. I’ll be able dig deeper and deeper within my being to find real truth. I’ll be able to connect with universe as a whole, and be enchanted by all of her magnificent creations she has to offer. One being the human race, their dreams and what they have to offer. No one has ever dreamed of advertizing, or marketing, or working for the “city.” We all dream of traveling, thrills, and love. I could say it’s a theory but it is most definitely a well known fact. I do have a couple theories on the other hand, not too far out of reach. One will simply do for now:
It’s the end of the week and all you want to do is have a one or two or ten drinks with some friends at the local bar. Fair enough, you absolutely deserve it. You all meet at your favorite bar hopping street to let loose tonight. You share the street with at least a few hundred other happy-go-lucky Samaritans. But tonight everyone simultaneously has an interconnected idea. The idea being that instead of the money spent on drinks tonight, (just this one night) we give that money to the homeless guy with the sign on PCH and 2nd. He now has enough funding to have a home. Who knew what selfless Friday night looked like.
Before your mind begins to wander I’d like to quit while I’m ahead and still in your head. My gratitude extends to the farthest vibration that my heart sends to yours for reading this letter. It feels amazing to know one person is interested my interests, which is you and everyone else that share in this universe with me.

Infinite Love,
Amanda Jean Hust

P.s. I would love to hear back from you if you so desire. Return address is written and phone number is (562) 896-0852