INVITATION WITH HUMANITY

On a nice warm Sunday afternoon a few weeks ago, a friend invited my wife and I to a reception gathering for a new mural painted by a local volunteer and recently completed. This reception took place at a camp in Melaque (Mexico) that provides shelter for indigenous traveling farm workers. These indigenous people are as native as they come … with ancestry going back centuries in this part of the world. They travel with their entire families and have little in the way of material possessions. They speak their own native dialect along with sometimes speaking spanish. I personally felt part admiration and part sorrow towards these charming people that have been in harmony with the earth for centuries, yet now have to live and compete with the contemporary standards set worth by modern day living. As a photographer … I am deeply moved and humbled by all classes of people. I was honored and very respectful towards taking photos of these people while I walked around and observed a life very different from the way I was raised. I think most of them were wearing their Sunday best. They were always gracious and very polite, but I did feel and see a certain discomfort with all the do-gooders and tourist looking at them. It was still a special day with special energy ... I guess I'd say that I'm thankful I met these simple people with big hearts. So I promised them that I would be back to give them a copy of these photos.

Let me add ... I have never posted photos quite like these before. As a matter of fact, I watched a slideshow of these photos on my computer before I posted them here, and I felt very emotional just watching the slideshow in silence as they came up one by one on the screen. In a round about way, they represent (for me) an invitation with humanity and made me think about life, about God's will, and humanity as a whole. With all this said, these people are happy and embrace life the best way they know how. Enjoy!

(Note: the first three photos are of the neighbor kids who greeted my wife and I just outside the camp and the simple home they live in).