Today was a day like any other day on the race. You wake up and have no idea what the plan is for that day. All that I knew of was that we had a bible study meeting this morning. As I type this I still have no idea what I am doing today. You always have a rough schedule and per usual subject to change. That’s the thing about being away from home you tend to change.
Led by one of my teammates, Eric we opened to Matthew 6.
“Be careful not to do your ‘acts of righteousness’ before men, to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in Heaven. So when you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honored by men. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing. So that your giving may be in secret. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.”
He passionately talked about how on the race this is extremely easy to do. We may not be giving money or gifts but we are giving of our time and that is constantly being shown via social media at the first chance we get. In Eric’s words: We are doing goods with our left hand but are sure to have that phone/camera/ipod/etc. to make sure to share it with our right hand. I couldn’t agree with him more after spending months living in different countries. Below is what I wrote in my journal two weeks ago. This message is for everyone at home, those on the race, and those about to be a part of some mission work in the future specifically upcoming racers.
BEING A PHOTOGRAPHER ON THE RACE
Today one of my hosts said as he came to pick us up while looking at my camera “don’t forget to bring your camera.” I quickly responded I don’t take pictures of people who are suffering that I don’t know, It is like exploiting them.” We were headed to the slums and I get why people taking cameras to areas like that. Since being on the race I can’t seem to get one thing, how do people trounce in on such awful situations and capture these people actively hurting. They are not dumb they know when white people are here that they “have money” to get to where they are and especially when you whip out that Nikon or Cannon. They know they are going to end up on that social media site that people love to post things but they will never see it because of one thing…
They have no idea who you are.
It won’t be that they don’t have internet because another thing I have also found to be true is that internet is a priority to everyone. Even in the villages and the most remote areas that you can imagine. They still have their Facebook accounts. Those pictures that you capture will still be seen just not by them because
They have no idea who you are.
One of the biggest misconceptions of the race is pictures. Until you are actually on the race you will soon realize that the Instagram, Facebook, and filters are fluff that give their intended audience a glimpse of some great adventure you are on or how sucky people are living their life across the globe. I am guilty of it too. Both intrigued by the pictures so carefully designed and of taking pictures of the people I don’t know. I DON’T EVEN KNOW THEIR NAME. There are even days where I look around me and have no clue where on a map I am located on this earth. This is for certain though; I will not be this person that does anything for the shot. I will not place babies on my lap to have someone snap it. I will not take a photo of the grandpa without his sight because he can’t see me anyways. I will not stage some picture to depict something that didn’t actually happen. We didn’t come here for photo ops or recognition. We came here to help it and not everything needs to be documented. Next time you click the button on the garbage dump kids, earthquake victims, disabled, fill in the blank you should think of how it feels to be on the other end of the lens. Would you want to be the person watching a stranger zoom in on you?
Quit trying to take “the shot”.
