A Pause That Refreshes

Anderson, South Carolina

Most of the people in my world never ever think about water. They never think about it being scarce, expensive, or potentially laden with life-threatening contaminants. To them it is none of these things. To nearly three billion people on earth it is all of these things. It takes me about fifteen minutes to earn enough money to buy and dispose of all the clean safe water I want to make use of for an entire month. For a small bit more I can heat it up for showers, cooking or any other purpose I choose.

Hundreds of millions of people spend much of their waking time thinking about water. Many spend hours in physical labor each day acquiring it. Many children throughout the world have sacrificed their childhoods to be beasts of burden hauling water from distant polluted sources to satisfy the barest needs for cooking and hydration. None is available for showers, shampoo, hot tubs, or the other delights we take for granted.

Monday night 230 people who never think about water paid $100 to gather in a bucolic farm setting to pause and think about water for those who have to think about it all the time. We gathered to raise money to rebuild a dam, pump station, four reservoirs, and a system of high pressure pipe that supplies water to 12,000 Haitians living on the edge of the economic and nutritional abyss that is their world. People who don’t have to think about water have chosen to do so and pay the water bill for those that have no capacity to do so. Because open-hearted people have chosen to help others, some that were forced to think about water all the time are no longer required to do so.

A grand venue with a fine hall was donated as were hundreds of chairs, tables, and a tent big enough for a small circus. Caterers provided all the cooking, preparation, and presentation. Other vendors donated wine and beer. Others volunteered to be an attentive wait staff. Other offered to bus and clean up. My role was to scurry around and connect wires and hook up sound systems, projection systems, and computers so that our guests could see and hear what a Haitian world looks like that is forced to think about water too much. They could also see that the dam has now been built and that people are going to be able to start thinking more about things like education and better lives.

The bill to make sure these Haitians have safe water is about $1 million. We made $25,000 for offering a fine catered dinner at sunset. Unlike the miracle at the marriage supper in Cana where water was turned into vintage wine, we saw our offerings of wine and food turned into safe water for those are just beginning to believe in the possibility of miracles.

Melodies in the Night

Anderson, South Carolina

One does not have to spend six hours listening to the whine of jet turbines in order to hear the great melodies of life. Sometimes a two-minute drive in an eighteen year old Toyota will suffice - at least for me this was recently the case. Two of my favorite things to do in the world are taking pictures of people doing the things they love the most and listening to those blessed people who know how to make music in a twenty-three piece big band. For the first time ever I was able to do both of these things at the same time. I was asked if I would be interested in taking a couple of photographs at a big band concert in the nearby university auditorium. Part of the deal was free tickets to the event. The band was wanting some pictures for publicity purposes. I thought about this for at least a nanosecond and said I would be happy to do so.

It was as if I had my own private concert. I was told to feel free to move about the auditorium, the stage, and the green room spaces. For two hours I basked in the rich sounds of twenty-three musicians who really know how to bring to life nineteen of the classic big band standards of greats like George Gershwin, Irving Berlin, Richard Rodgers, and Lerner and Loewe. For what seemed like but a few seconds I scampered about this melodic oasis and took hundreds of pictures of twenty three musicians and a dozen fine vocalists in complete flow with each other. How grand it is to document people doing something really well - giving pure pleasure to the several hundred aficionados in the audience who have really good taste. I was granted a close-up perspective not usually granted to concert goers. It is amazing the different ‘regions’ that exist within a large big band. It was a delight for me to photograph the band from front, back, and sideways.

I can only hope that these musicians want me to digitize them again the next time they blow magic into our lives.

Swimming in the Stream of Life

Atlanta, Georgia

One of the great destinations in the Southeast has come to be the Georgia Aquarium in Atlanta. This epic facility draws as many as twenty thousand visitors in a day. For hours people wait to gain admission to this marine wonderland, to experience the beauty of a world often unrealized by those of us consigned to living on land. Even though constrained to live on land, we are free to swim, ride in boats, descend in submarines, and otherwise experience the delights of our water world. If we so choose we can swim with the dolphins.

Alas, there are many of us unable to experience the joys of recreation and social connections because of medical or genetic misfortunes. Many thousands of children around the world have been burdened with congenital genetic nightmares or have been subject to disfiguring and disabling accidents. In many countries, disfigured or deformed children are consigned to a life of hopeless neglect and despair. Childspring International has as its mission the redemption of the lives of as many of these children as possible. Last year nearly 200 of these children were brought to the United States to have life saving and life changing surgery. The value of the cost of treatment for these children was in the tens of millions. To each of the children the value was beyond price.

This week four hundred and sixty of us privileged individuals made a pilgrimage to the Georgia Aquarium for a chance to watch the beluga whales and the whale sharks glide through the turquoise waters of seven million gallon tanks. For the evening the place was ours. Suited up in our black velvet and diamonds, silk cummerbunds and tails, we showed up to celebrate the visionary lives of those who seek to include these special needs children into their lives. We saw the vast difference that a single individual can make in the lives of many. As awe-inspiring as it is to see these great denizens of the deep glide soundlessly through the waters, far more compelling was to experience the vision of those who see beyond themselves.

We enjoyed our well-presented dining experience, made new friends, danced to the sounds of a grand twenty piece dance orchestra, and relished the prospect of telling others about this modern gospel of healing. I don’t think I will see fish quite the same again.

I arrived home at 1:40 AM, having been reminded of my privileged station in life and my responsibility to bring as many other souls along with me to a better place as possible.