Back in the US of A

I'm back in Ohio. Getting adjusted to life as normal. I can't say that I've had reverse culture shock, yet, but I did have my Panera bread fix and I am not getting sick from the food (except maybe that McDonald's I had...yuck).

I had the wonderful opportunity to shoot an engagement session for my long time friend Amy and her fiancée Michael who will be getting married in December. It was so much fun getting to capture their personalities on camera and had some fun doing beach shots. Enjoy!

Final thoughts of Mexico

My time in Mexico is coming to a close. I will have been here a total of 183 days. I have taken over 6000 pictures. I have been to well over 30 cities. I have met so many people. I have learned so much Spanish. I'm sure I have written over 50 journal entries about my trip here as well as to Colombia. I have tasted some of the finest food Latin America has to offer. I have gotten sick more than 4 times from the finest food Latin America has to offer. And now...it's time to come home.

Mexico challenges me more than anything. This year and last year might be one of the hardest experiences of my life, but it molds me into who I am more than anything previously. I can't even tell you what it is exactly. I just come back thankful I'm alive (from the times I swear I almost die from bizarre sicknesses), I come back longing to be around the people I love (for the times I swear I almost die from being alone). I come back craving really weird foods (this time it is an incredibly delicious salad topped with every type of natural organic vegetable Kroger can offer dressed in some fine creamy Italian dressing. weird.).

So as I look back at all those pictures, reread all those journal entries, remember all those "pinche fiestas" I went to in all those exotic towns ;-) I have to ask myself, what will it matter? What will change in my habits in Cincinnati that will say I changed for the better. For I do believe I have been changed for the better (all you Wicked fans out there)

Without running the risk of being too dramatic or corny (as I have a tendency to do) here is a list of things I have learned looking back through my pictures.

1) They say you are a total sum of everyone you meet. I say if this is true, invest in the lives of those around you with everything you have so at the end of your life you can say you lived.



2) Give all of yourself with love and sacrifice until you can give no more. It's about the little things

3) Make friends with people who are completely different from you. You might learn something new, or if anything you'll at least have a new friend.


4) Learn to party. Responsibly of course. But humans were created to celebrate and you'll bond with a person faster under the banner of merriment.



5) Hold fast to the things you love but also be quick to let go to share with joy.



6) Fight for peace you believe in. Die for something that is worth living for. Cry for a future of joy.


7) Let music be your vision you when you cannot see.



8) Feed those who cannot feed themselves even when you are hungry.


9) Laugh for no reason. Run until you tire. Sing until your hoarse. For the kingdom of God is such as these...


10) "Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him and He will make your path straight."

Latin America through a Lens

6000 pictures later...and I think it's time to come home. I'll be home in less than 2 weeks! It's been a great trip though.

Meanwhile, if you are interested, check this out if you'd like to see the Best of Mexico. Blessings.

http://www.theartisticvision.com/news.html

A Cry of Freedom

I believe that one of the greatest things a human can witness is the march and demand for peace and freedom. History books are bursting with stories of marches and freedom cries that have shaken the world. You wonder and doubt how a mere voice can change the course of history. You become skeptical that a simple march is able to halt the disturbing statistic of an average of 10 kidnappings a day in Mexico. They will march today, shed a few tears, send a few prayers and petitions, but by tomorrow life returns as normal and killings continue. Oh, but the cry of the human spirit is much stronger than that; petitioning their demands of unassailable rights with words that fly to the heavens reverberating and joining the choir of freedom songs echoing throughout the folds of time.

Freedom seems so fundamental to us, like breathing. Nobody has to tell us that we need freedom; somehow we just know it, like we are entitled to it, and we pursue it, even die for it. The lady leading the march I was a part of in Mexico said through the tears, “We will march, we don’t have fear, we want to end this violence…I don’t care if they kill me…” Powerful words. Incredibly powerful words. That this freedom is something worth living for—worth dying for. “Give me liberty, or give me death” is the heart’s cry that can bring a powerful British army running. Powerful words. It indicates how we were designed. Jesus once said we are “slaves to sin”. But if we “know the truth, the truth will set us free”. Somehow we know that how this life is, isn’t how it ought to be. And so we search for this freedom.

I was watching a live concert of Michael Bosé, a Spanish singer, on DVD the other day. The concert filmed in Madrid in Plaza de los Toros in Madrid, Spain, one of the largest coliseum that holds well over 20,000 people—it was packed. One of the songs, that is one of my favorites “Nada Particular” is a song that calls for peace. I was moved when I saw everyone in one voice singing this song, calling for peace. Part of the song the translation in English is this:

May my history not bring pain
May my hands work peace
And if I die may you kill me with love
Nothing particular.

Sing and fly, oh Freedom
like the dove who sings.

Give me an island
in the middle of the ocean
and call it Freedom.
Sing strong my brother,
Tell me that the wind
won’t sink it
and call it Freedom.

And with all these 25,000 of people singing this song crying for peace, certainly one could assume that the rest of the world would agree with them. With millions of people across Mexico marching for peace, certainly one could assume that the rest of the world would affirm their voice. Why can’t we all agree to throw down our swords and beat them into plowshares? Is it really just a handful of people that are ruining it for the rest of us?

Obviously this isn’t the case. We sinful creatures who cry “Freedom!” chant in the next breathe “Crucify Him!”, and we continue the cycle. But that never stops us from dreaming. That never halts the imagination from wondering what it would be like if we returned to a world without hurt, a world with freedom, a world of peace; return to a familiar way how things ought to be. Nada particular.