Do you ever feel a stranger in your own body? Feel that there is something wrong that cannot be righted? That there is in you something broken that you cannot repair? A piece missing that you cannot find? Do you feel that you know yourself, and yet you are not yourself? You look into a mirror, into a window through which you ought to see yourself, and yet something else is there — something not quite right.
I think that you do. You are a human, and so am I, and I feel this way. What is it that makes it so; what is lacking in the whole? How can the crooked be made straight, the wounds healed, the cracks sealed up — and can it happen Now? Would I even appreciate it? Would I truly love the light if I did not know what the dark was like? Would I really be healed if I had never known hurt? The dawn of Spring is always sweeter to him who has walked through the bitter cold of Winter. ’Tis no relief to have a weight lifted which you have never carried.
And yet, ought we to choose the burden that we might never know? Should we scorn the unknown pain, momentary, that might bring joy unknowable to us before? Methinks that joy unfought for is joy unlasting.
Ought we then to let our love be such as this? Love that is weak, that knows not pain or suffering, that has not been tested, that has not lasted, that has not met with hardship or trial — do we desire such a love as this? What is love that is not strong? In order to be proved strong, we must endure, and there can be no endurance without trial. True love, therefore, is love that suffers.
— Joel, 23rd of January, 2019
Geeky Things
Camera: Fujifilm X-Pro2
Lens: Osawa 28mm f/2.8
ISO: 800
Location: Starbucks
Notes: The first image was shot somewhere around f/5.6, maybe f/8. I was seated in the corner of the shop where two windowed walls meet together, and the light on this cloudy day made me think this little pile of everyday carry objects would look good. The second photo was shot wide open; for being a cheap lens from a brand I’d never heard of before, mounted to my X-Pro2 with a $15 adapter, this little Osawa performs quite well, in my opinion, even wide open.