U.S. Marine on route to 300 mile destination

It was a rainy Florida day when I met this U.S. Marine walking down the highway with his bike. He explained he was unable to ride the bike because his chain was bent. “What happened to it,” I asked? “My lock went through the back wheel and then the chain and someone tried to pry it off bending my chain,”  he said.

He told me he was headed about 300 miles into Florida with a destination of St. Petersburg. “I want to see my former Lieutenant before he crokes,” he said with a laugh.  “He’s 86 and kinda’ like Lt. Dan from Forest Gump, but a great guy,” he said with a smile. “I refuse to hold my thumb out or ask for a ride, nor will I fly a sign asking for money – I can make it.”

The bike he was on came from a Destin, FL church. Evidently, the church has a program to help those in need. They recycle bikes from bike rental companies in the Destin area. Each bike is repaired and then outfitted with a sticker that says, “Donated bikes rehabbed by St. Andrews Church, Destin, FL.” Awesome program for folks like this retired U.S. Marine. 

I love for people to see my smile

You would have thought I gave this man, age 39, a million dollars.

I was walking down a busy city street with the temperature outside in the 80's and this gentleman caught my eye. He had on a winter toboggan and two coats, layered. He was not asking for money, just leaning against a store window watching people walk by. I had two bucks in my pocket and I handed it to him.

When he saw me lift my camera to my eye he quickly held up the money and said, "Can I do this when you take my picture?" I laughed and said, "Sure you can." He then told me that he loves for people to see his smile. 

As I walked away, he was still smiling. 

William Arthur Ward author of Fountains of Faith, is one of America's most quoted writers of inspirational statements in the world. Ward, who died in 1994 at the age of 73, stated "A warm smile is the universal language of kindness."

Six months to live

While in Georgia, I came across a traveling husband and wife who had been married for 15 years. The wife (pictured) was given about six months to live after being diagnosed as having a inoperable brain tumor and the two decided to travel the United States taking in sites and scenes that they have never been a part of. From California to the East Coast, they traveled the back roads by way of "Gas Jugging." 

I was unfamiliar with the term of "Gas Jugging," so with curiosity I asked, "What is that?" The woman looked at me and held her hands up as if she were holding a gallon container of milk. She said, "You pull into a gas station and instead of asking for money, which many people do, you hold out this empty milk container. You approach people filling their car up with gas and you ask, would you possibly fill up my container with gas for my camper?" 

"So, what was the most friendly city you guys have visited," I asked? Her husband smiled and said, "Really, all of Tennessee. Everyone was so kind." I did not ask what city or state was the most unfriendly, but they did tell me that they met all types of people while on their journey. "We met young people who train hopped to get across the country, we even met crack heads that we routinely bought dinner for - we had to quit doing that though, it got too expensive," they said in agreement. 

I asked the woman, "When were you given 6 months to live?" Without hesitation her husband beamed with a smile from ear to ear... "3 years ago." 

A talk with God

He was lying on his back in a small downtown Atlanta, GA park when I walked up to him on a sunny Sunday morning. With curiosity I asked, "What are you doing, you look very content?" He continued to smile without looking over at me while I was standing to his left. "I am talking to God," he stated.

Mother Teresa said, "We need to find God, and he cannot be found in noise and restlessness. God is the friend of silence. See how nature - trees, flowers, grass- grows in silence; see the stars, the moon and the sun, how they move in silence... We need silence to be able to touch souls." This young man at age 27, finds that to be true.

Homelessness appeared to be far from his mind... Thankfulness for life is what I witnessed.

Traveling trash can to trash can

The majority of his day is spent traveling from trash can to trash can in search of food. Even though he is in a bustling tourist area, his food still comes from the trash cans that line lower Broadway in Nashville, TN. 

On this particular day, he found what appeared to be a strawberry daiquiri in a plastic cup, still partially filled. It lasted him the next city block during his walk. 

Helping is as simple as a smile when you can't afford anything else. Mother Teresa once stated, "Spread love everywhere you go. Let no one ever come to you without leaving happier." 

My bicycle holds everything

He was sitting quietly on a bench in downtown Nashville. His life is neatly packed in the bags attached to the rear of his bicycle that lacks working front and rear brakes. A short chain is secured on the handlebars held in place by a master lock that will hold it tight to a tree so that it will not be stolen as darkness falls and he sleeps through the evening. 

Catholic Priest and writer Henri Jozef Machiel Nouwen once stated, "The greatest trap in our life is not success, popularity or power, but self-rejection." One walk down a crowded city street will open your eyes to see the self-rejection that exists in our society. So many people feel downtrodden or victimized by others when in reality, they dislike themselves. 

Professor Nouwen worked with the mentally handicapped on a daily basis. The Priest also researched the lives of many and knew self-rejection well. Before his death he wrote 39 books and taught at  the University of Notre Dame, Yale Divinity School and Harvard Divinity School. 

That was me

"I was just sitting here thinking about my life," he told me. He looked across the street and said, "That used to be me, having fun..."  

Today, Curtis is homeless. He scrapes up $10 per day in order to sleep on someones couch - when he has the $10. On nights that he does not have any money, he goes to a downtown shelter to sleep. 

Shot on a #GoPro

Meet Queen Andrea

While touring the Bonnaroo grounds on Thursday to see how the set-up process is turning out, I met Queen Andrea. You are probably scratching your head thinking, “She is not really a queen is she?”

While Andrea von Bujdoss is not actually royalty, she is known as the queen of graffiti. Because of her artwork, she is called Queen Andrea. Evidenlty, the graphic designer from New York, learned from some of the most prolific old school graffiti writers in our era.

The New York based artist was chosen to design and paint a massive water feature on the 700-acres that make up Bonnaroo in Manchester, Tennessee. Her design, complete with black lights at night, will be in the round watering basin where concert goers will cool off during the heat of the event which takes place June 11th through the 14th.

Each year, the festival brings in about 100,000 visitors from as far away as Japan and as close as Nashville. This year, some of the big names include Billy Joel, Mumford and Sons, Ben Folds and even Slayer. 

Vietnam and back by 19.5 years old

Vietnam lasted until 1975, this man was only 18 when he was sent in to help as troops were starting to pack up and leave in 1974. He had just joined the military and spent several months in Vietnam and was then back to America. He told me that it was in Vietnam during his time in the service that he started drinking heavily and using drugs. "Everyone did it," he told me. "I did it too to cope with what I was seeing and to feel better," he told me. 

After spending time overseas, he eventually found his way to Nashville. He said, "Look around, I got caught up in this lifestyle and couldn't stop - My health is poor today, but I feel better every single day now that I have stopped." 

"I have been sober for a little over three and a half years now," He told me as he held a sign asking for help in the downtown lights of Nashville, TN.

The children of the world

“It's the children the world almost breaks who grow up to save it.” ― Frank Warren, Post Secret

I shot this in Haiti with my Fuji X100s

Staring blankly at life

We handed him a case of Chef Boyardee Meatballs and as he picked it up and walked off into the woods, I could not help but to notice his expression never changed. He lives in the woods, surrounded by about ten other men and women in tents... and nature. 

“The loneliest moment in someone’s life is when they are watching their whole world fall apart, and all they can do is stare blankly.” ― F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby

For some reason, he reminded me of a middle aged George Carlin

I saw his happy smile as he drank and I instantly went to a 2004 George Carlin quote I once heard. “I think the warning labels on alcoholic beverages are too bland. They should be more vivid. Here is one I would suggest: "Alcohol will turn you into the same asshole your father was.” ― George Carlin

George Carlin is one of those comedians who made sense in what he said from time to time, you just have to know when to laugh and when to listen. Carlin, who I liked because of a record my parents had where he rattled through the seven dirty words, died at age 71 in 2008. As some recall, Carlin was known to have an addiction to  alcohol and Vicodin. 

Children of a Third World

I shot these in Haiti.

"What does love look like? It has the hands to help others. It has the feet to hasten to the poor and needy. It has eyes to see misery and want. It has the ears to hear the sighs and sorrows of men. That is what love looks like." - Saint Augustine

Hope for tomorrow

 88-Year old peace activist Thich Nhat Hanh stated, "Hope is important because it can make the present moment less difficult to bear. If we believe that tomorrow will be better, we can bear a hardship today." 

I shot this photo in a small village of Haiti while surrounded by children wanting to hold my camera. Each grabbing for it as I snapped. Most of the children were smiling, eager to have their photo made as if they had never seen a camera. 

In this village, there was no electricity, no running water, no TV or radio.