Aspiration Toward Inspiration

The easiest thing. So many of us major in things that will lead to this or that. We get jobs to pay the bills. We do with our lives things that we think will bring us joy. A vacation in Hawaii? That most certainly brought me joy, but the type of joy I experienced in the people of the Lower Ninth Ward was an entirely different animal. The happiest people I met were those that woke up early each morning to break their backs. Git Er Done. It may be easy to become frustrated knowing how much more efficiently things can be done… The money, the material, and skills are lacking, yet each day, things get done. You do the best you can… and that means something entirely different from the context I normally think of it in.

Giving here is not work. It’s Life. It is times when I am giving that I am giving that I know I’m alive. My back hurts and my knee pinches and my heart is full and I know I’m alive.

All I seem to think about it how I’m going to get back there.

Comfort. I believe I sang. And I am alive.

Please God, let your spirit stay alive in me and in the Lower Ninth.

While the frustrations compound, there is no sense of resignation.

You are what you give. I think of identifying myself in a lot of ways in life… a liberal, a Christian, a woman, a student. Neither “builder” nor “painter” have ever really made it onto that list.

“What Tourists Don’t See” from rick prose on Vimeo.