Thanks John! I’m often a bit quick to exclude stuff like that from the composition, but I think in this case a little bit was important to the whole story.
SO MANY amazing observations in this post that I don't even know where to start!
When you question whether or not you should feel sorry for them, even though you understand that they see it as their regular life. Do they know what they don't have? And do they care? Yet we make it our business to care.
I think our modern world sort of needs to be the way it is though, because we don't live in a climate that lends to more sustainable, simple living. Here in Canada we could never live safely in rudimentary housing because of -35 degree winters. But then, maybe natural selection would be able to do its job as it did for thousands of years before industrialization. Now we're overpopulated as a species lol.
PS: All those rolling green hills...that's the scenery I existed for when I lived in the Caribbean. So beautiful 😍
The big thing for me was how I became aware of these questions and contradictions that I believe there are no good answers to. For some reason Honduras made me see that, even when doing good things, everyone's perception of their own actions is biased towards the way they want to see things. Maybe it's the contrast of two different cultures places together.
And yeah, those patchy green hills are unreal! Maybe one day I'll make it to Jamaica. Are there any long hiking trails in Jamaica?
What a fantastic experience Erik. Not only did you get to help out in a practical way, but you had the opportunity to see your life and the world from a slightly different perspective. Sounds like a great trip all round.
I've traveled quite a bit, but this experience was like none other. I think the contrast of our different cultures working so closely together both highlighted our differences and showed that they can be overcome.
I love how this entire piece is a documenting of your trip, but more than that, it's a dialog with questions that are pretty much unanswerable. The central wrestling being, if I'm reading it right, is "how to feel about poverty in this place? Do I pity them? They don't seem to be pitiying themselves. Do we help them? Or is that colonialistic?" (Fyi: I've always had AN ISSUE with that word, "colonialistic," in the context of helping. It's often spat out, "how dare anyone want to help impoverished folks by imposing and colonizing." When in many cases, the desire to help stems from good will and human compassion, as you seemed to be wrestling with.
And I loved how that was tied back into our modern day existence! We have so much and yet we STILL pine for more! What a disturbing and sobering contrast. Ugh. Shook.
And, God moments. Mmmmmm loved this too. May we all seek to find more of those in all our days, in the ordinary and the extraordinary.
Yes, that's exactly the complexity that came to my mind! This is what I love about doing hard things and stepping into the uncomfortable and unfamiliar. As you well know, just paying attention at these times leads to some really powerful insights!
What an amazing trip it was! So glad we had a great photographer to capture it!
Haha! Thanks, Stephanie, and yeah it was awesome! I'll upload the rest of my photos to the Google Drive in the next day or two!
Much respect Eric and beautiful photos!
Thank you, Pamela!
The photos are wonderful and like Erik says everything is new to me!
As I often say, reality intrudes regularly! Even the trash heap,frames beautiful scenery.
Thanks John! I’m often a bit quick to exclude stuff like that from the composition, but I think in this case a little bit was important to the whole story.
SO MANY amazing observations in this post that I don't even know where to start!
When you question whether or not you should feel sorry for them, even though you understand that they see it as their regular life. Do they know what they don't have? And do they care? Yet we make it our business to care.
I think our modern world sort of needs to be the way it is though, because we don't live in a climate that lends to more sustainable, simple living. Here in Canada we could never live safely in rudimentary housing because of -35 degree winters. But then, maybe natural selection would be able to do its job as it did for thousands of years before industrialization. Now we're overpopulated as a species lol.
PS: All those rolling green hills...that's the scenery I existed for when I lived in the Caribbean. So beautiful 😍
The big thing for me was how I became aware of these questions and contradictions that I believe there are no good answers to. For some reason Honduras made me see that, even when doing good things, everyone's perception of their own actions is biased towards the way they want to see things. Maybe it's the contrast of two different cultures places together.
And yeah, those patchy green hills are unreal! Maybe one day I'll make it to Jamaica. Are there any long hiking trails in Jamaica?
What a fantastic experience Erik. Not only did you get to help out in a practical way, but you had the opportunity to see your life and the world from a slightly different perspective. Sounds like a great trip all round.
I've traveled quite a bit, but this experience was like none other. I think the contrast of our different cultures working so closely together both highlighted our differences and showed that they can be overcome.
Oh man, Erik. Where to begin!
I love how this entire piece is a documenting of your trip, but more than that, it's a dialog with questions that are pretty much unanswerable. The central wrestling being, if I'm reading it right, is "how to feel about poverty in this place? Do I pity them? They don't seem to be pitiying themselves. Do we help them? Or is that colonialistic?" (Fyi: I've always had AN ISSUE with that word, "colonialistic," in the context of helping. It's often spat out, "how dare anyone want to help impoverished folks by imposing and colonizing." When in many cases, the desire to help stems from good will and human compassion, as you seemed to be wrestling with.
And I loved how that was tied back into our modern day existence! We have so much and yet we STILL pine for more! What a disturbing and sobering contrast. Ugh. Shook.
And, God moments. Mmmmmm loved this too. May we all seek to find more of those in all our days, in the ordinary and the extraordinary.
Yes, that's exactly the complexity that came to my mind! This is what I love about doing hard things and stepping into the uncomfortable and unfamiliar. As you well know, just paying attention at these times leads to some really powerful insights!