In some ways we have never been more connected than we are right now – at this juncture in the timeline of mankind.  In other ways we have never been more disconnected and detached.  When I embarked on a 99 journey around the world almost 3 years ago to date, I suppose in some ways I was looking to get more connected with what was happening globally, in a real sense.  These days, it’s too easy to fall into a cyber world, where most of our connections are intangible. Call me old fashioned, but I feel the need to connect with people in real terms. When I returned from my journey, I had not only connected with people from all around the world, I had connected with myself and what part I was meant to play in the timeline of life.

As the years have ticked away, I have tried to remain true to myself, especially in how I apply that to my craft and my career.  This past weekend I had an assignment for Kiwanis Magazine.  The assignment was to photograph volunteers from the local Kiwanis and Ki Clubs, repairing a home at the NJ shore that had been damaged by Hurricane Sandy.  I had not been down to the shore since Sandy, but I knew this area had been the hardest hit in the state.  While much of the debris has been taken away, there’s an empty and desolate presence especially in the poorer towns that had no money to rebuild.

The task on hand for the volunteers that day, and there had to be about 30 people who showed up, was to install new sheet rock and insulation, put in a new bathroom and do general clean up of the property.  It was a modest home in a very modest neighborhood of houses that had been salvaged amongst the ones abandoned.  The first thing that hit me was in fact – this is someone’s home.  As much as I was there to photograph the volunteers, my eye was drawn to the personal effects of the owners, pushed up into the corners of damaged rooms along with their Easter decorations in rooms they were living in.  Life must go on.

The day was filled with positive energy. Kids were painting, raking, cleaning storm drains while older tradesmen were working with other volunteers and teaching them their craft. And at the end of the day, everyone walked away tired, but feeling really good about the contribution they had made.  I’m sure some of these kids had to do some kind of community service as part of their school mandates, but could I tell that every one of them got a lot more out of the experience than just school credits. I know I got a lot more out of it than a paycheck and some photographs in a magazine.

After the chores had been done and I had gotten the photographs that I needed, I took a drive with my husband along the ocean road.  It was a new landscape, changed by a hurricane that hit hard.  But I felt hopeful and humbled once again about the power that’s in all of us to make a difference.