My grandfather was a people person. He did not require a class on how to make friends or lessons in communication. It was natural and came from a genuine care for people, their stories and their futures. Recently at a family dinner, we heard emergency sirens drive past our house. Intuitively I said a prayer for the responders and the victims. My husband said, “I wonder where they are heading?”
I turned to him and smiled and said, “Okay, Kenneth, shall we get in the car and follow them?” We both laughed recalling a distant past.
Our son and daughter-in-law looked at us with disbelief as we recounted stories of chasing emergency vehicles with my Grandpa Kenneth Roork. No one would follow emergency vehicles today, yet both David and I had taken Grandpa to the site of emergencies at his insistence.
This happened not only in a different time in history but in a unique community setting. My Grandpa had pastored two churches in this northeastern area of Oklahoma, spanning over 30 years. He had preached in dozens of other churches in the surrounding area as well. Grandpa had also been the rural route postal carrier. He had not only delivered mail, but within the Mennonite community who did not own vehicles at the time, he had also delivered birthing moms to hospitals – and even had a baby born in his car! These people were his community. They were his Mission Field.
To my Grandpa, a stranger was merely a friend he had get to meet. My son and I are a lot like him. When traveling with Jill Palmer this past March, I was talking with a fellow train traveler in Tokyo, when I heard her say, “Kim is making new friends,” and I smiled. Grandpa smiled too.
The older I get, the more I travel, the more people I meet from other cultures and countries, the more convincing I am that people are basically the same everywhere.
As my dad would say, “they get dressed the same way you do: one pant leg at a time.”
Travel.
This belief has served me well. I have met some amazing people around the globe as well as on a university campus and community.
What has been will be again, What has been done will be done again; There is nothing new under the sun.
Ecclesiastes 1:9
The basic needs, dreams and hopes can be seen across all cultures. There is nothing new while at the same time each person is a unique, treasure to this world. In photography we have a gift that allows us to captures the uniqueness of each individual while also recognizing the sameness of humanity.
The beauty.
Wat Phnom Penh – Bird danced as she sang.
The story of generations.
Life-long learners.
Moms and Daughters.
Hamura-Midoriogoka
Working. Commuting. Taking care of family.
The wonder of a child.
Commuting in Cambodia
The horror of world gone wrong.
Survivors. Childhood stolen.
People. All loved by God.
For God loved the world so much that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not die but have eternal life.
Thank you! You have gifted me your most prized possession – time. I hope you enjoy the read. Some laughs, some smiles, some tears and even a few, “mmm-hmmms” too!
Complicated Hope 
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