A lot of people live with pain!
A lot of people live with disabilities.
Yesterday while photographing a beautiful Egret at the Great Salt Lake I was very touched. I know of an individual that lives with a considerable amount of pain. He may have to endure it for some time. Maybe a good Doctor can get to the bottom of the pain. Maybe. Life goes on. People have expectations. Employers and superiors want production….regardless. No excuses. Some days it affects his self esteem. As humans we are consumed by our self esteem. And not as concerned about our self worth. Our self worth is what we bring to this earth with us. Even in pain an individual should know his or her self worth. Our self esteem seems to be dependent on what others think of us. Friday I was reminded of a very good friend of my Daughters. Becka. She has been in a wheel chair since she was just a little tike. Paralyzed. Becka is beautiful. Really Beautiful. She has never let her disability slow her down. A succesful violinist, a wheel chair athlete and a wife. She knows of her self worth and incredible self esteem. What an example.
Meet my friend I found by the Great Salt Lake on Friday…..
They just don’t get any more beautiful than the Egret. A beautiful bird in it’s own right. This one in particular made me cry. A little.
Though he was having great success at fishing. Something was out of sorts. I watched and studied this one. He seemed to be off balance when moving. The photo above shows how one wing is extended more than the other. He did this often when moving. Not just while fishing. He was great at getting his fish…..
What first caught my eye was like in the photo above he seemed to be off balance. Leaning more to one side. Notice in the photo above how much lower in the water his left leg is. This great fisher was either born deformed or lost part of his left leg during his life.
No left foot. Was he attacked and lost his foot but got away? Was he born this way? There is no question this disability was getting to me a lot more than it was getting to this beautiful Egret! In short order he was catching fish left and right. Like Beka he did not even acknowledge his disability. He is a survivor. I am not a biologist but this guy looks healthy. Is he in pain? Is he depressed about his condition? Birds don’t get depressed. I think. He didn’t stay long. I was blessed to run across this special bird. He reminded me that I need to focus more on what I need to do to survive. What started as another day wanting to maximize my new camera turned into a lesson of self examination. Maybe with some effort I can be as good at my specialty as he is at fishing!!!!!!
All – Nikon D4, 600mm lens, 1.7 teleconverter used in two photos.
