I’ve been trying to decide if I should even be giving a dialogue to go with images on this blog, at least for the posts that are photos throughout the day. As I’ve mentioned before, it is more of a journal than anything else, but not one so private that I don’t feel like sharing. I feel as if the images can just speak for themselves. Do they really need to have any explanation? Maybe. Do I feel that people aren’t smart enough to get them? Not at all. In fact, I feel more like I’m insulting people’s intelligence more by captioning or explaining than if I just leave it up to whoever looks at them. Sure, some of them may seem like they repeat, or are the same subject, but that’s the times that we’re in currently.
All, or at least most, of us are stuck at home, whether by choice or mandate, and our movements are restricted. My wife and I, though having to leave for some things, have tried to limit ourselves in where we go, especially after this past weekend. We are in the midst of planning to move, have a cat that was scheduled and is receiving/received radioactive iodine treatment, and have day-to-day tasks to deal with. We don’t have any more or less going on than probably anyone else, but we’re trying to be safe and as responsible as possible. Either way, though, our lives have become limited in where we go/are. That said, so go the images that I collect throughout the day. When we are out, I’m usually focused on the task at hand, mainly my hands and how to keep them away from my face during a pandemic that hit in the middle of pollen season in the south (If you haven’t lived here, this is a REAL ISSUE!). This means that I don’t always look at where I am, or take a picture as I drive the car. Just know that I’m sharing as a way to document, boring or exciting, and for a sense of purpose.
Purpose is something that I’ve been trying to put my finger on for the past week or so. Not so much I feel I don’t have one, but another way to explain this blog as it is right now. It also is a way to explain where we are and WHY these images are important for me to share. We all probably feel more of a need of purpose right now. Until it’s gone, even those of us with little structure in our lives don’t realize how much the world around us, and the everyday life we have, structures our routines and gives this sense of purpose. What I want to close this with is a paraphrased statement I read earlier today that touches on that purpose. It is from Massachusetts Governor, Charlie Baker: “Purpose is what drives us. Limiting physical and social contact is profoundly purposeful. Every single act of distance has a purpose.”
Everyone stay safe and stay healthy.
