The reality of where we work attempts to conceal itself in normality. or routine. or familiarity. or any number of facades. It does well for a time which only makes the fall more exaggerated as you crash back to reality. This crash assures you that you don't work in a safe place, nor a place where stability is the norm. And though I work here, I am reminded that I am not from here. Reminded that this is life for my students.
Yerman (refer to last blog) is gone. Over the weekend, he and his family moved. It is a gut check that I am not his savior nor his only hope. People come and people go and we never know how much time we have. We can only be an influence for a time and we must hope that the impact we have made on the lives around us is lasting.
Another is gone, but a different kind of gone. Isaac (another photography student) asked to leave towards the end of class today to go see his friend Douglas. He said that Douglas was about to pass by. Imagine the surprise as I opened the gate to a funeral procession crawling towards us. Isaac tells me that Douglas was 19 years old. Him and five others were gunned down over the weekend. The other five are in the hospital. Douglas was his friend, yet he tells me this in such a matter of fact way that it almost convinces me that they were barely acquaintances... that or that this is just a reality of life for Isaac. Although I want so badly to change their reality, I know that it isn't my job... my job is simply to influence the lives that I can for the time that I have been given to do so. My hope is that we are all on that path together, that we may encourage others that, "there is surely a future hope for you, and your hope will not be cut off." -prov. 23:18
I still don't know the roads we'll take, but it seems like we're heading in the right direction...
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