Wedding # 5

I've just finished editing Garret and Breanne's wedding - this one took a lot longer than I thought, for several reasons. First, it was an overcast day, which required more color tweaking than I thought it would. Second, I moved the day after the wedding, and spent the last month adjusting to life here. 

Regardless, it's done now, and there's some great shots. I've also learned my lesson about double-booking my time ;)

Other than that, life is good. I took a spontaneous trip up to Prince George last week, and I might put a couple shots from that trip up here. Life in the DTES continues as 'normal' - last night my entire block was taped off by the police because of a guy threatening to jump off a building down the street. Thankfully they managed to get him down safe and sound, but it really brought home to me just how desperate some people are down here. Depression and mental illness is such a terrifying spectre at the best of times - now imagine facing that without the safety net of friends and family. Add abuse into the mix, and you have a deadly concoction. It is little wonder that people turn to addiction and suicide to escape the pain that they are in. Fortunately in this case the man was able to be helped... I just hope that I can help make a difference in someone's life, and let them know that they are loved.

Life in the DTES

I've been here for almost two weeks now, so I've decided that this would be a good day to say a little something about life down here. 

Here's the thing: people are people, wherever you go. People on the street are not monsters, not evil, and not all murderers, rapists, and gang members. In fact, you are probably more likely to run in to one of those types in Abbotsford or Surrey than you are here in the DTES. Here, the people are addicted to any of a variety of substances, often mentally ill, and poor. Yes, they are often unpredictable and hard to communicate with, but they are also Good, and loved by God.

I've been learning this week what it means to be Small. I'm very purposefully limiting my focus to today, and ignoring as much as I can what may or may not happen a week, month, or year from now. I live for today, and the most important question I ask is 'how do I love better?'

So this is my new motto that has emerged from the DTES: Live small, love huge. It sounds so simple in premise, but in practice I think it will take me a lifetime to fully grasp.

Systems, Chaos, and Control

'You see, if we have someone on night shift at the front door, there's someone there to fight with. If there's no one there, the drunk angry guy just goes to bed instead of starting a fight. We're actually better off with less control.'

This is just one of the surprising statements from the mouth of Mr. Gordon Wiebe, my mentor. This guy is forcing me to think - really think. Not the kind of thinking required to get an A on a paper, but the kind of thinking required to actually re-evaluate life, leadership, and God. I like it.

How do complex systems emerge? How do we truly be a 'servant of all'? What does it take to create stability on a street of continually-shifting chaos? What really is salvation, what truly is a 'better' life?

I don't have answers for these questions. I can barely formulate them into coherent thoughts. However, the idea of organic growth, of growth based upon a truly (and some would say extreme) servant-leadership model is astounding. To my brain, it shouldn't work. Having no night shift at the front desk of a hotel in downtown Hastings should lead to chaos within the building, but it hasn't. The building is actually better off and more stable than it was a year ago, when more safeguards were in place. It's weird, crazy, and it's working.

Of course, there are still rules, and still problems. There is just enough structure here to create a system which allows growth to take place, if one knows how to look for and define growth.

Day one, and my head is already exploding. This will be an interesting time.