My Photo scholarship 2010 entry
Spain | Wednesday, October 13, 2010 | 5 photos
Two years ago I sold everything (with the exception of my camera) and got on a boat to cross the Atlantic Ocean. I’d never been on a sailboat before, but I found a person willing to teach me how to sail, fish, move thru storms...In essence, how to take something totally new, and grow, and Understand a part of the world I’d never been a part of before.
I take pictures because years before, I was in the Navy. It was prior to Sept. 11th, when most people joined with no greater goal then to get money for school. I was deeply disturbed when, after the attacks, we began to get the new recruits. They were young but already so filled with hate. It was heart breaking. They said they were there to kill ‘rag heads’ and I thought that no one, not even a kid recently traumatized by violence could say such horrible things about people...and they weren't. They were saying those things about Unseen Forces; blank enemies without real lives that didn’t eat their Mom’s cooking or go to school with a girl they liked or have hopes for the future.
For me stepping on that boat was the first step to getting to know the World; to filling in the blanks for myself and hopefully others. These photos are from the next step, the one off the boat and onto Spain. I got to know a family and I'm so glad to share them with you. I want to keep moving forward and use what I learn to chip away at the ignorance that fosters fear. I believe that it is only when we see that the rest of the world isn’t filled with nameless, faceless Others, but with families and homes and lives so different yet so similar to our own that we can cease struggling against, and start thriving with, each other. I hope this opportunity is whats next. I'm a hard worker, an eager student and you'd be surprised how much I can carry!
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