Poparazzi

I have to say that it is a shame that taking pictures of strangers is such a social faux-pas. I have encountered many strange, wonderful, beautiful and enigmatic scenes and characters recently and think, "Man i wish i had a camera with me." and then think, "Oh yeah, it would probably be creepy if I asked them to pose for me."

Today I was at McDonald's buying a tasty and celiac friendly mcGrill chicken Salad and there was a gentleman there that looked so much like Willie Nelson I could hardly believe it. Except on top of Willie's two braids, he had also braided his long beard in two. But seriously, I would have loved to have a picture of this intriguing person. And then the child next to me was so perfectly covered in ketchup and sitting barely eye level with his food on the table. Brilliant moment, but alas...no camera and so many societal issues with invasion of privacy.

Now if someone asked to take my picture I would be weirded out too. I totally get that. But still, there are so many unique individuals out there doing things that are alive and why shouldn't I be able to capture that on film. Taking pictures of nature is good, I enjoy it and have often gone for long walks in the river valley experimenting with a camera but....people are also wonderful things to photograph.

Perhaps this is just a Western Society thing but it seems to me to be an unwritten rule that keeps us from interacting with each other. From entering into each other's lives. Have you ever been on a bus and someone on the bus is crying or looks so stressed out but hesitated to say anything because they probably don't want to be bothered or they probably don't want attention drawn towards their pain. You know what i mean? But how horrible is it that I think that?

It seems that everyone I know is lonely in some manner or another, even the married ones. loneliness and isolation from other people is awful and so why not extend a healthy smile or moment of care. this is a significant problem in the church i think. loneliness is so awful because we don't have a ready solution for it, so we are most afraid to talk about that. you give someone food who is hungry or cloth someone who is cold, but lonelines...what can you do with that?

people are more willing to admit that they struggle with lust than with loneliness. it seems to be this all encompassing horrible feeling that we ignore in ourselves. but why is it so bad to be lonely? why do I feel like there is something wrong with me when I feel that way? Why is it so shameful to admit? it can be suffocating and awful, dark and despairing.

Loneliness is something that we each experience in our own way and probably will experience in some degree until we are with God. But, there are things that help I think. Being with people, caring about others is something that helps I think. We experience God's closeness through other people, in some strange and supernatural way that I cannot explain. And caring about people and being with them is not some opiate of the people to distract us until we die, I think it exactly the opposite, it is what we need. Yes we are all called individually before God but he has given us other people to help us along, to help push us towards him, to laugh and cry with, to share our loneliness.

And will we still feel lonely some days with no exact explanation why? Will we still feel lonely in a group of our closest friends? Probably, yes. That horrible feeling tends to pull us further and further away from people rather than towards them. We don't want anyone to know we are so desperately lonely, it means we're weak...shocking. and so we don't tell people and then we distance ourselves a little bit, we become fortresses of solitude, alone with our loneliness.

I have to fight this sort of thing all the time. But there really is something healing that happens inside of me if I choose to channel that loneliness into writing a letter for someone else, or call someone to go for coffee in the aims of finding out how they are doing. perhaps loneliness is our reminder that others are lonely too and need someone to take care of them.

we're all lonely in some way. lonely for God's presence, lonely for a close knit family, lonely for that special someone, lonely for something that we cannot express. i think it's a longing for a fully realized and tangible relationship with our Maker. so let us in our loneliness share each other's loneliness, share each other's joys and sorrows.

it is probably true that no human can ever fully know another human, but don't stop from trying to. Don't give up on allowing yourself to be known by people and to know other people.

Loneliness might be inevitable but i don't want to give up and just accept the isolation and loneliness. I have to force myself to let people know how i am doing, even if at somepoint they will let me down and I will let them down. And I have to force myself to still look out from that lonely feeling and think about other people. I want to strive to be for other people what I would like someone to be for me.
So let us relish the moments where we don't feel alone and share the moments when we do. as bruce says "you gotta kick at the darkness till it bleeds daylight."

Well that ended up being a little heavier than i expected.

In Conclusion: Hug a lonely person today. (or whatever your version of hugging someone is)