Real Stories

Anything helps. At least that’s what the sign says.

I think I’ve written this in the past. But, just in case. I follow a Benedictine monks’ saying. “The work is the prayer.” I also believe something Detective Harry Bosch says. “Either everybody matters, or nobody matters. In case you are wondering, Harry Bosh is a fictional character created by Michael Connelly. Even though Bosch is his main character, his secondary character won more fame in a movie called “The Lincoln Lawyer.”

I suppose you are wondering how these two touchstone sayings come together. I’ll tell you. You knew that I would. Like the rest of the country, we are very sad about the Boston bombing. So sad, in fact, that we went to mass this morning. I don’t do that very often. We took most of the day off and were just very good to each other and everybody with whom we came in contact.. Taking an unplanned day off is one of the benefits of working for yourself. But, I still hadn’t really worked. At least, not in the way I need to when want it to be about praying. So, we decided to have dinner and walk around The French Quarter. That makes two times today that we went to The Quarter. That’s where we went to mass. At the big cathedral. St. Louis Cathedral. Apparently, a lot of people had the same idea. We had an early dinner and I did my thing. I had a very nice shooting night. In between dinner, a walking cigar and Italian ices, I managed to make a few good pictures. As I wrote to a friend of mine, I do my best work after 7pm.

This is what I think is the best of the pictures. This is where I think the “everybody matters” thing comes into play. We actually stopped and talked to these guys. How many people ever do that? We aren’t saints. far from it. But, something just clicked in last night. It’s pretty rare to see these kinds of homeless people in the Quarter. But, there they were. I know where they came from. San Diego. They pretty much walked through Texas to get here. The got rides in other states. They are brothers. One was born in New Orleans. The other was born in Florida. One is a body repairman. The other was a welder until his lungs gave out. And, yeah. We gave them a little money. We shook their hands. But, here’s the important thing. The guy holding the sign is called Ray. Like me.

Everybody matters or nobody matters.