Insights After Venturing Out Today

I decided to get out today. I don’t know if it was a good idea or not. However, it seemed like something I needed to at least attempt. Ambling out the front door, I felt like a recluse coming out for a rare appearance. The temperature felt warmer but the day looked just as dreary as it did the last time I ventured out five days ago. I’ve been down with what I affectionately call the Fair Park Flu.

Half our team came down with it a few days after our serving at the emergency inclement weather shelter.

Every time I cough I picture hacking up the little alien from the 80s Sigourney Weaver horror movie franchise.

A few teammates actually came down with it before we headed into the final stretch of sheltering nearly a thousand homeless people. While on any given night we had 800-900 guests, we cycled through more than 2,000 unique individuals during our ten day stay. That number is hard to wrap your mind around when you consider the overwhelming abundance our nation enjoys. Yet, it signifies a small fraction of the people living on the streets. Less than half of the people our street outreach teams begged to come in from the cold actually took them up on their offer.

Mind boggling.

I had a purpose for getting out today. I needed to submit my entries for the 2024 Richardson Photography Contest. Tomorrow (January 28) marks the deadline for submission.

I thought I’d missed the deadline while we were in the middle of housing the unsheltered during the freezing cold. Fortunately, while I was battling the FP Flu, I learned that the deadline was Sunday, January 28, not Friday, January 19, like I’d thought.

Honestly, if it weren’t for the photo contest, I doubt I would have ventured out. But, I needed to do it for the sake of my art and my sanity.

I scrambled, as best I could, to quickly assemble several entries. This is always more involved than I remember. You have to measure and re-measure before adhering your work to a foam core board. Once affixed, your work is stuck where it is. I chose glue dots for my adhesive. They stick well and are less noticeable than other glues and tapes.

The image above shows my 8 entries in the format of a collage. Every photograph contains its unique backstory. The personal memories associated with each image bubbles to the surface as I painstakingly adhere them to the white foam core board.

It is a welcome relief to focus on something creative. It’s good to do something other than cough, sneeze, or wheeze. There’s a healing effect that making art bestows upon the artist that I believe eventually trickles down to the consumer.

Creativity is not a rare ability. It is not difficult to access. Creativity is a fundamental aspect of being human. It’s our birthright. And it’s for all of us.

Rick Rubin

If you view each day as your blank canvas, you can make of it what you want. Creativity comes in many forms and can be found even in the seemingly most mundane aspects of life. It’s really a mindset—a way of seeing the world—that frees you up to live a more beautiful life.

More to come next time.

Until then…make something!

Rainer Bantau —The Devotional Guy™