there your heart will be

Well, you never think it's gonna happen to you. You think you'll be prepared if it does. And then it happens, catches you off guard, and you're suddenly not as prepared as you thought you'd be.

Having spent plenty of time of less-than-safe parts of Mexico and having spent a good 5 or 6 weeks here, I KNOW the drill. Gringos are targets for theft. I know to keep an vigilant eye on my belongings. I know all of that. And I thought I could handle anything.

And then today, I took a little trip down south in the city to Centro Histórico, this great part of the city with plazas and cathedrals that remind me of a lot of my favorite parts of Mexico. I was having a wonderful time -- I actually like spending a bit of time by myself, exploring and taking photos. I went to this great World Press Photos 2010 exhibit, where I saw all the best work in photojournalism from the year. I left that and decided to walk up a little side street where I heard some music. I saw a little old man playing the accordion that I wanted to photograph and decided to sit down on a ledge under a tree, a little ways away from him so as not to look too awkward.

Then, something sprayed on my back from behind. It almost felt like bird poop, but when I took off my sweater, I saw it was orange-ish and, honestly, looked like barf. All of a sudden, these 2 men came up to me. One was pointing up into the tree, trying to tell me what it was that had "fallen" on me. The other was handing me Kleenex to clean up my sweater. The second guy took my camera, my nice Canon D-SLR camera that I'd been holding in my lap, and set it on the ledge. That, I knew, was not right. And when I turned back around to grab it, it was gone.

I think the most frustrating thing, apart from losing one of my favorite things in the world, was that it was a set-up. The group of men, probably 3 or 4 total working together, knew exactly what they were doing. They were, in fact, experts in stealing.

Lesson learned. You literally cannot let anything you care about leave your hands. But at the same time, the camera was a material thing. I wasn't physically hurt, expect for the weird junk that was, I'm sure now, sprayed purposely on my back. The camera was just that, a camera. Yes, something that I loved a lot, but something that can be replaced. Something much worse could have happened, and all I can do is be thankful that it didn't.

"Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also."

- Matthew 6:19-21