In Between the Smiles, I Can Touch Your Pain
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It is not raining. That should bring out the smiles. But I can't find them. There isn’t much sunshine. Not much glitter in the gutters, no gold shining from the mirror, maybe that's the reason, and the news is grim almost everywhere you look. A gallon of milk is more than a gallon of gasoline. A small band of unknown people in the Amazon were revealed today, and who do we send to talk to these strangers before we kill them with the flu or missionaries?
These thoughts flit through my head as I stand on a corner in downtown Portland at three in the afternoon. I take 192 pictures of people crossing the street, and only one person is wearing a smile, and that is more of a smirk. Even the people lost in headphones and walking their imaginations have clenched faces, pinched between the present and the future, squeezed into worry.
But into this woman I pour my spirit and beg her to lift her chin.
The night before I astonished my sister in Laurelhurst Park by walking up to four young ducks in the woods and far from the water, all of them quacking in confusion. I quacked louder but in their rhythms, until I had their quiet attention, then quacked a sharp, flat, follow me, and walked along the fence lining the path protecting us from nature or nature from us. The young ducks rushed after me, quacking in response to whatever orders I was issuing. They danced through shrub and stone to stay a yard off my heels, until we got to the lake’s edge. A mallard paddled over to check us out and I barked at him like a dog; the mallard quickly paddled away, and I looked at my young ducks. Protected, they were busy grooming, ready for a swim, quiet as young ducks can be.
My sister and I spent the day laughing. And everyone who hears the story smiles from the beginning, and way past the end.
And this woman comes to the corner, paused between disasters, with no smiles in sight. I put down my camera, and quack softly. I know where the water is, trust me. Let’s go say hello to the Amazonians firing their arrows at the cameras, and you can tell them they are cool right where they are. But all my quacking does nothing, lifts no chin, puffs no chest. The woman is drooped in thought, suffering in public.
And now I see her in this photograph, carrying herself all by herself, and wonder why I didn’t offer a hug or a smile. I could have told her about the ducks.
What would she have said to me, a perfect stranger, telling her, “I was across the street quacking at you between the walk signs, hoping you would notice me”?
Maybe, Sweetheart, I do not know your pain, but it would be nice to feel your smile.
37 Responses
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On 30 May 2008 Vladan Djordjevic gave props:
Great photo taken with excellent composition, tones and details.
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On 30 May 2008 Llorenç Rosanes said:
Great pic, but much better the post.
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On 30 May 2008 Mojca S. gave props:
:).......haha, i wanted just to post a smile, but i got a note that the prop was too short....just a smile
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On 30 May 2008 Vicenç Alcaraz i Coll gave props:
Great Seanie!
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On 30 May 2008 catharine amato gave props:
Yeah to both pic and story
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On 30 May 2008 Konrad Ragnarsson gave props:
Sad woman,very good picture!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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On 30 May 2008 John Linton gave props:
Great Pied Piper moment with the ducks, but maybe she's a glass half empty kind of person.
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On 30 May 2008 Laura Boston-thek said:
DANG I missed this one today!! (OK will show great self control and will save it for tomorrow mornings coffee...I tell ya, it is the only way to start the day....wakes my mind and my soul!
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On 30 May 2008 Frederic Frognier gave props:
Very very nice image. Very strong and meaningful
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On 30 May 2008 Gary Fudge gave props:
Your story did make me smile Seanie. After dealing with a death, fights, a fire and all the usual problems in people's lives, I know that there are people out there you won't get to smile. Unless maybe you're offering a tenner bar, a rock or a bottle. Am I cycnical, maybe, but it's the truth, hard as it is. This woman has a life time of worries on her face, but it looks like a long hard life. I don't think she would have got your quacking story, but many will.
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On 30 May 2008 paul moore gave props:
anything i decide to write will pale into insignificants after reading your thoughts but thats not going to stop me from trying.For capturing such an intimate moment takes patience (not to mention technical ability)and you deliver every time seanie bravo!.
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On 30 May 2008 paul moore gave props:
sorry for the rant..Im drunk now all thats left to do is paint myself yellow go outside and shake my staff at every helicopter that goes by.
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On 30 May 2008 adniloj gave props:
Bob has said it best above; X-cellent photo j for the times we are living, though I would like to see the "Free Hug" folks go after this woman! Perhaps they could quack too, thanks for sharing
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On 31 May 2008 Mario Scattoloni said:
Mysti-cally beautiful a & marvelously Mary Poppins moment....I feel as if she is bound 2 appear at any moment...& save this poor soul from her own misery.... I am really not sure what that mean´s as it just kinda pop out of me like that...
By the way Seanie U crack me up ...smiles & ducky conversations. Wow, these should abound amongst us humans more frequently...
Funny that about the Amazon tribe, I also just heard about this as well this morning about this tribe 2day as well. I just wish that the world would get its paws off of these people & let them live out their days in harmony with their own surroundings. Why must we spoil everything. Greed $$$$$$ seems 2 get the best of our intentions, it certainly was in their best interests if they did not exist 2 the eyes of the world. They don´t even know how lucky they R 2 B so unique...& we certainly will spoil that in a media feeding frenzy no doubt. Damn we can B cruel.... -
On 1 June 2008 Chris Whitney said:
okay-1 more check of JPG before bed, and I now, I will retire with a smile! Hopefully it will be contagious tomorrow.
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On 1 June 2008 Laura Boston-thek gave props:
POWERFULLY Said my friend!! It is quiet an observation and I do believe it is a duty for all our souls...a task we each must share...Smile ARE contageous....we can spread them by touch and a person can easily see it's affects on others....that is the wonderful thing about smiles....your heart can not feel heavy if you are smiling...honestly smiling. I believe completely that we all have a gift of empathy and compassion in us....and when we humans reach out and connect with those unsmiling creatures around us....we are once again "infected"...Let's hope they never create a vacine. Seanie....I am smiling at you...can you feel it? Thank you
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On 1 June 2008 juliana dixon gave props:
wow. so moving.
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On 1 June 2008 Nelson Campbell gave props:
excellent capture of her angst.
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On 3 June 2008 Rachel Mckinnie gave props:
Ah shucks. All I can feel is joy when thinking of you waddling with little duckies behind you?
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On 3 June 2008 Portia Söderberg gave props:
wow!
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On 3 June 2008 Jean Pierre Vacherot gave props:
Nice, my vote
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On 3 June 2008 John Linton gave props:
Oh yeah! It rocks!
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On 4 June 2008 Francesca Conti gave props:
full of meaning! voted!
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On 5 June 2008 Audrey Kanekoa-Madrid gave props:
You captured the emotion perfectly....it rocks!
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On 5 June 2008 Lisa Bernardini gave props:
fantastic....
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On 10 June 2008 Bruce Hall said:
Wonderful narrative. The power of this photo, for me, is that I have no idea what her condition, her countenance is telling us about her world. I wonder, and hope it was something small, something that did not last long. Thanks seanie for another great slice of your world.
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On 10 June 2008 Sherry Davis Johnson gave props:
Seanie BlueEach time fate moves me across your pages I know what’s in store, a feast for my eyes and a story that leaves me dreaming of life’s glory. I’m caught off guard by the angle from which the emotional tears wreck the make up on my face and the heart of my soul. I welcome them both. Lingering thoughts of you bring smiles because I know that there is a loving soul named Seanie Blue in the world being all God intended us to be. Your ability to see past external beauty and into the fabric of humanity unafraid to touch another’s soul is a gift I appreciate. I will add two more hugs to my repertoire of love to a perfect stranger in honor of Seanie Blue.
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On 21 June 2008 Anne Mcginn gave props:
seanie you magician you.
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On 11 July 2008 Jit Ray said:
oh yeah ... magician u are.... but i hope u will not let so much praise get to ur head. im sure it wont.... hard to find selves which are low on ego.... ur a good man.
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On 16 July 2008 Andrew Duneman said:
Your words really make this a powerful picture. It makes one stop , think and reflect. Very powerful.
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On 24 July 2008 Kiwi ana gave props:
Hugs
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On 5 August 2008 * Cairenn said:
A Beautiful Story.... keep Quacking...
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On 6 August 2008 Will Mitchell said:
Your just beautiful with words and camera!
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On 29 August 2008 Bonnie Blanton gave props:
I love the story behind the photo.
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On 10 September 2008 Jennifer Shrier gave props:
I've always dreamed of catching a moment like this. Thanks for giving me hope.
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On 20 November 2008 Kelly Rockett gave props:
Your amazing, Seanie. This image speaks volumes!
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On 23 November 2008 Karen Zimmerman gave props:
Awesome duck story, Seanie. Your photo gave me goose (duck?) bumps. I wish I, too, could offer her a hug. Great work.
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