“You Handled It Well”

I’m amazed at the generosity and courage of people who devote their entire lives giving to and caring for those less fortunate than we are. I can never imagine what it would be like to be homeless, it never crosses my mind. But there are those whose lives are totally dedicated to the homeless and the afflicted. Praise-N-Thunder is an organization whose mission is to do just that – help the helpless. They are formed primarily of bikers – not the Cannondale crowd, the Harley Davidson crowd.

I live very close to Washington DC and I absolutely love that town. I am never fearful of walking around by myself. I was in DC last weekend to help serve the homeless – shoulder to shoulder with Praise-N-Thunder. I was with a whole group of people, most of them youth from our community.

I have walked the streets of Bangkok, trudged through the back alleys of Seoul, and weaved through drunks in Torrejon, Spain and have been perfectly safe. It tends to make an individual overly confident. So I wander away from my group, camera in hand. The homeless are everywhere. I take out my camera to get a picture of a man sleeping on a bench when I get tackled from behind. The man hits me so hard, my glasses go flying and my camera flew to the ground. He nearly knocks me off my feet. Then he came back at me, his face full of rage. He screams, “No pictures, no pictures!” He grabs me by my throat and pushes me back. And he grabs me again.

I feel animalistic fear. I say, “I’m sorry, I’m sorry, no more pictures.” Then another homeless man comes over and grabs my attacker to get him off of me. And they start to fight. I have been terrified before, but not like this.

I run back to my group, in a daze. I was crying. There were hundreds of people in that park, the only person who came to my rescue was another homeless man.

The man who was running the show that day for Praise-N-Thunder, Wayne, heard my story and said he would take care of it. He has me point out my attacker and he goes over and talks to him. By this time, I needed a change of scenary and I go with another group to the next park, a couple of blocks away. People have recounted to me what Wayne said to him.

Wayne – “Hey man, is there anything I can do for you?”
The attacker - “Yeah, I can use something to wash my hands with.”
Wayne – “I hear you touched one of my people. If you want anything from me, you keep your hands off of my people.”

Men like Wayne are the ones God uses to impart justice in the world. They are the ones who walk softly and carry a big stick. They are the order keepers yet the compassionate servants. They are the courageous.

I see my responsibility in this event and I’m embarrassed. It was born from the sins of over-confidence, pride and cockiness. I was cocky and I lost all common sense. I shouldn’t wander away from my group, and I shouldn’t take pictures of the homeless without asking them first. As Wayne says, “They may have something going on.” No kidding.

I was thoroughly shaken but I couldn’t go home. It would have felt like I abandoned the mission. I had my camera jammed in my bag and I was terrified to take it out. As the afternoon wore on, I met a homeless man named Jack. He and I talked a while and I told him I was hit in the other park. He was so sympathetic that I start crying again. The attacker hit me so hard that the shutter release in my camera was stuck. The lens was stuck as well. I finally got the kinks out and I ask Jack if I could take a picture of him. He said no, so I asked him if he would take a picture of me.

This was the picture. I cried so hard that most of my make-up came off so I had to do a little touch up on this, but this is what he saw through my camera. He said he was an artist and that if he had a pencil and paper he would draw me.

As I was talking to Jack, another man came by. He said he was sorry about what happened in the other park. I said, “You were there? You saw it?” He said yes, and that sometimes there are people with mental problems. He said “We’re not all like that.” I thanked him for his kindness and I cried again. Then he said, “You handled it well.” It was such an odd statement, from a homeless man to someone who thinks she’s got it all together.

“You handled it well.”

When I got home, I was doing a thorough check on my camera and found this picture.

I was about to push the shutter release when my attacker hit me. This was what the camera showed at the moment of impact.

I’m going again next month by the way. I don’t believe my intentions were truly pure. I believe I went there to get another photo opportunity, not to truly learn and put my heart in the mission. This time, it won’t be about getting pictures, it will be about helping the helpless.