Madonna & Child, Colombia
I would like to share with you some of my favorite photos of friends. The first set of pictures is from my Peace Corps days in South America, back in the 1970s. The second set is of some buddies I've had the pleasure of traveling with over the years.
There is not much purpose to this section other than to celebrate the wonder of the human spirit and the beauty of the human soul.
As you can probably tell by now, my experience of living with rural poor folks in Colombia deeply affected me. Most of what I've learned about life I learned from these humble, accepting friends.
It was difficult for me to leave that life behind when my Peace Corps service ended. Here, from my journal, is how I felt at the time:
"What kind and gentle people, these friends I had. How generously they allowed me to share their lives, their time, their secrets. I shall long for the jungle nights, watching the kitchen coals in their grass and tree bark houses, discussing jungle realities, fathoming their hardened faces, feeling the night wind and rain, listening to the monkeys howl, the night birds call, the insects rattle.
Some friends could not read words, but could read emotion. Some could not comprehend sickness, but understood faith. Some never understood why I came, but took me in.
It's all over now. I left as I came, knowing I could never stay. And yet, I shall see their faces and hear their voices in a thousand crowds, feel their thoughts on windy nights, almost see their shelters again in the moonlight."
When I took the pictures that follow, I told the individuals that these photos were going to be shared with my friends back home. I told them that as they looked into the camera lens, not to think about the film inside the camera, but rather to imagine that my other friends were just beyond that lens, waiting to meet them in this only possible way.
You are those friends.
Faces from the past