Page 49 - NyghtVision Magazine Volume 3 #3
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As I drove south, however, I could not get ing, especially after my visit to the Patrick
Ronald off my mind. The way he replied to me General Store. The rest of the day continued
when explaining his artificial leg really struck to be lucky. I kept stumbling onto peach or-
me. There was no anger in his voice. There chards in bloom, old plantations and church-
was no sense of injustice. There was no hatred es, and Mepkin Abbey. It was the most stim-
– he had not added any negative adjectives ulating and rewarding day of my photography
ahead of the word “lady.” What happened - “career.”
happened. That’s just the way it was. The loss I felt so lucky that later in the day, after I
of his leg might have kept him from pursuing purchased gas at a gas station, I bought $20 in
many other avenues; but, Ronald had accept- lottery tickets for the Powerball drawing pre-
ed the hand life had dealt him. He did not dicted to be worth over $300 million. I know
blame God or anyone else. the odds, but it was my lucky day.
I realized from my encounter with Ronald At day’s end, I shot the sunset at Shem’s
that life really is a game of chance. Some of us Creek in Mount Pleasant. Exhausted, I re-
really are born on third base and think we hit turned to my motel room just in time to see
a triple, as Texas Governor Ann Richards once the second half of the UNC-Villanova NCAA
said. Others have to struggle just to get to the basketball game, which UNC won.
plate. Some are thrown out trying to stretch However, I did not win the lottery. And, the
a single into a double. Sometimes the umpire next day, it started raining hard about mid-
calls us out when we were safe. day, which kept me from taking more shots
The mark of maturity is the ability to accept of downtown Charleston. That Sunday, light-
the hand that life has dealt us and move on. ning and thunder awakened me, and a genu-
We need to accept that we are who we are and ine “frog strangler” settled on Charleston. No
try to make the best of the cards we have. luck for photographers that day. But, I’d had
We see examples of this frequently on the my lucky day.
evening news. There are stories of people, in- I learned from this trip that as a photog-
cluding veterans, who have sustained devas- rapher I need to be more open to experienc-
tating injuries but who refuse to give up. They es and especially to the people I encounter on
walk again when doctors said they wouldn’t. these trips. What if I had followed my pattern
Like Gabby Giffords, they survive and dedicate of eating at McDonald’s? I would have missed
themselves to improving their world. Like the meeting the Griggs and a good story. I would
civil rights pioneers who refused to accept in- have missed the opportunity to reflect on life
equality, they work tirelessly so that someday and to realize that we should be grateful for
their children will be equal and be able to eat the life we have and use whatever we have to
alongside white folks at the local general store. the fullest. We have to play with the hand life
Life is a game of chance. I had experienced deals us.
what I thought was an extremely lucky morn- Life goes on.
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