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Back in October a horrible, shameful and unimaginable event happened.

A man died in the Emergency waiting room of our city’s biggest hospital. I suppose that is not too shocking of itself, but this poor man spent over 34 hours there before he died in silence, and alone. That is over a day and a half waiting for help; and this city is NOT New York or Toronto.  Our ERs are not that busy.  And worse still, he was not found for many hours after that. And he didn’t have to die.  If he had been attended to as is customary for a caring hospital ER he would have lived. You think he would have deserved SOME attention, becasue despsite everything else, he was confined to a wheelchair, after having both legs amputated years earlier.

But the Hospital medial staff, it seems ignored him.  Even after the maintenance staff tried to get them to help after the man began to vomit.

This has been an ongoing story for months. We have all taked about  “the poor guy who died at HSC.”  We all know who you mean.  But till today he was “just a poor guy”, sure he had a name, Brian Sinclair. Most of us will not remember that a few years from now. But as of today, we will will remember HIM – his picture was published today in the Winnipeg Free Press.

And what a photo it is. It made me cry.  It’s not just a “mugshot”, or an old blurry family snapshot.  Or a news photo of the poor homeless man with no legs. Nope. A human being actually took the time to stop Brian Sinclair one day last year as he wheeled down the sidewalk, and asked to take his picture.  Maurice Bruneau captured an amazing portait that is now burned into the souls of each person who sees it.  Now we can all FEEL a bit of the soul of Brian Sinclair.  He’s no longer just a story, he is a real person, and through this photograph we can glimpse into the person that he was.

He is not just a down and out bum, a homless man, with lots of troubles.  Take a look at his face.  He has dignity and pride and spirit.

And that, my friends, is the power of a photograph.

See the photograph here

And if it moves you the way it moved me please consider making a donation to an organization or charity in your community that helps the homeless, the addicted and the socially marginalized.

Read about Brian’s life here.

Read the entire sordid saga about his death here.

…and never underestimate the power of one small photograph.

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In my usual course of exploring and indulging my curiosity, I discovered a couple of unique photo sites to share with you:

http://ffffound.com/

http://pixdaus.com/

There’s lots to see here (now you know why I waste so much time!!!). But what a source of inspiration…

I was out in the rural routes this morning and have a list of 6 amazing
trees that are just begging to be immortalized in a fine art photo.
When the conditions are right, I will take some shots and try to figure
out how to post them on Google Earth. (Don’t you love Google Earth! -
another favorite source of entertainment for me! such a simple mind he
he he).  So I have compiled these locations in a database of sorts for
now, and I am adding to it every day.

So, what’s up in your world these days?  What inspires you? Sunsets at the lake?  A starry night sky? An soaring eagle (perhaps just a birdie!)

Send me your favourite inspirational links and places.

ciao for now.

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