Are you poor?
A man in a nice car drove up beside me during a red light. The light took awhile for it to change which angered the driver. He turned red and shook his fist at the light. To be honest I felt no compassion of him. I felt he was very poor!
A friend of mine articulated something I had deeply felt for many years: poor is not a state of your monetary resources, it is truly a state of mind and heart! There is always someone poorer than you, monetarily. You are always as rich as you want to be: rich in how you live your life!
I have been to many monetarily poor countries. What they lack is not just money. They also have less of three important things we Americans have in spades: freedom, opportunity and choice.
My definition of the idea of being poor came to turning point in Auschwitz. I had read as much as I could about WWII. I was extremely intrigued by war because of mans desire for power. I went to Poland to immerse myself in man’s inhumanity to man. It was as close as I have ever gotten to it. I hope I never get closer!
When I got back to America and I must confess, I felt I had never been to a poorer country! We do not appreciate what we have! Many Americans have not been educated on the global-road. It is a big and amazing world but many cannot see past their own problems and weaknesses…past the boarders of their own walls.
If you want for nothing then you are in the position to help others. I would like to help others see that being poor is only a state of mind and heart. I am not a pessimistic guy but I feel our photography industry will get worse before it gets better. You will need to lean on your spades more than ever: freedom, opportunity and choice.
If you concentrate on helping other photographers,
If you get off the dang television and spend quality time with your family and friends,
If you have an open mind to the changes,
If you finally admit that the walls you created are the tallest and thickest and the walls others have put in front of you are thin and built on sand,
You go a long way to not being poor and seeing how rich you really are!
