Solving for the Value of X, where X = [your name]

"Yeah, well, teachers get paid way too much."

Let me pause here by disclosing that this is not about teachers' salaries.  Okay, moving on.

This past weekend, as I was speaking with two individuals on a subject totally unrelated to salaries or teachers, that comment worked itself into the conversation.  In retrospect, I'm not even sure how.  It was there, and then it was gone, and the topic was no more.

We all make off-handed comments from time to time without realizing how they might effect someone else.  Ingrained in those comments are assertions of our own values, and yet, so often we express ourselves in such a way that implies them to be indisputable fact.
   "Big business owners are corrupt, money-driven charlatans."
   "You're a stay-at-home mom?  Man, that must be nice."
   "It's obscene how much NFL players make!"
   "[insert name of a President] is the worst thing in history to happen to this country."

Skimming under the surface in each of those comments is a set of values, and those values are influenced by upbringing, personal experiences, religious beliefs, culture, interests, and general worldview.  A friend taking graduate classes for counseling recently described an activity one of her courses required that involved ranking 15 professions in order of importance.  This list included everything from doctor to social worker to professional athlete.  The point of the exercise was to reveal where your values lie and hint to where you may tend to unconsciously ascribe more or less worth to someone based on what they do.  She then went on to talk about how differently her children and classmates ranked these jobs and the conversations that ensued about values.

Making statements akin to "Teachers get paid way too much" speaks volumes more about your personal values than a budgetary analysis of tax dollars.  Spoken to a teacher whose husband also happens to be a teacher, it shouts loud and clear, "I do not feel you are worth your salary."  Asserting that business owners are corrupt discounts many who are passionate about creating jobs to better people's lives as far as it depends on them.  Implying that full-time care of one's own children is a less worthwhile role than full-time caring for others' children displays devalues a practice that has been commonplace for as long as people have walked the Earth.  Failing to consider the economic business generated by idolization of wildly successful star athletes (another topic for another time) disregards a primary reason for those massive contracts.  And really?  One politician serving in a system of checks and balances for a few years is the worst thing to happen to the country in history?  Check your History books again.

Nothing here is Earth-shattering.  Although everyone can recognize how differently we are wired, what is often missed is the beauty in those differences.  We need those who can string series of pitches and rhythms together cohesively from tension to release and resolution to make our ears dance with delight.  We need those who can skillfully erect sturdy walls that contain warmth and sound and do not crumble with each annual arrival of hurricane season.  We need intelligent minds who have the ability to inspire others to action to better the quality of the lives around them.  And if we were all composers or carpenters or public speakers, we would all severely suffer.  There is worth in every person and some degree of value in every position.  I leave you with this:

For the body does not consist of one member but of many. If the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. If the whole body were an eye, where would be the sense of hearing? If the whole body were an ear, where would be the sense of smell? But as it is, God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as he chose. If all were a single member, where would the body be? As it is, there are many parts, yet one body.
The eye cannot say to the hand, “I have no need of you,” nor again the head to the feet, “I have no need of you.” On the contrary, the parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable... God has so composed the body, giving greater honor to the part that lacked it, that there may be no division in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another.  (1 Corinthians 12:15-25)

Why I Love Photography

I can pinpoint exactly when I first fell in love with photography.  It took exactly two events to turn my indifference into total obsession. Event number one happened in the late fall of 2008 during a First Friday with some friends in Lancaster.  We were meandering through several of the coffee shops and art galleries in the city when we came to one that hosted a wall filled with black and white photos featuring a young girl holding a red umbrella.  Immediately, your eyes were drawn to the only colored portion of the picture, but with each framed photograph, once you were able to move your eyes to all that surrounded it, the real story was told.

The second event was a visit to the Smithsonian with a friend several months later.  We were walking through an exhibit of photo winners displayed in the Museum of Natural History and BAM! I was hooked.  These were National Geographic-quality pictures but printed on enormous canvases.  Those brief moments in time that will never again take place in exactly the same way told a story.  The flawless editing drew you into the artist's world and allowed the subjects to jump out at you.

I have realized that what I love most about photography is that it reveals reality.  I can appreciate a painter's artistic ability to recreate or a sculptor's craftiness to get 3-D proportions perfectly, but in my mind, nothing can surpass the beauty of what already exists.  In a perpetually moving world, one excellent photograph can allow you to revel in the artistry of one tiny moment in time.

As I've attempted to hone my still incredibly amateurish skills of photographing, this passion has been fueled by the focus that capturing these moments requires.  Really looking at a subject- studying it from various angles, analyzing how the light reflects off of and around it, seeing the depth of perspective of everything around it- has given me a greater appreciation for the world around me than I ever had before.  Editing encompasses this on an even deeper level as I work to bring out certain colors or bring something in or out of focus.

I have learned to really look around.  Beauty is literally everywhere, from angles formed in the distant horizon to the veins of a leaf floating to the ground by your face.  Stopping to actually focus on it, whether in the moment or with a photograph's help, is so worth the time.