Worth a 1000 words!
We
are a species which astonishes ourselves time and again by the lack of
sensitivity that we show towards each other. I often wonder why do we not feel
a kinship with our own kind from a different part of the world. One reason
might be the lack of awareness about the severity of their suffering. Being
away from the place and being detached from that situation takes away the much
needed empathy from our minds.
Steal a few moments from your busy
to breathe lives and look at this picture. I want you to think of a baby that you
know of. I want you to think of all that you will do to prevent any harm being caused to that little kid. I want you to think of how you will rush
towards the kid at the first instance when the baby cries for food.
This picture taken by the Pulitzer prize
winning journalist, Kevin cater stands in contradiction to all that we do to
protect our little ones. The vulture at the distance is waiting for the baby to
breathe his last. The little one has suffered without an ounce of food or a
drop of water. Can you fathom what this kid is enduring? At an age when the
child should be showered with love and blessings, she is made to struggle for
life. What in the world would justify such a situation! We all wallow in self pity
at the smallest of life’s difficulties. I cannot stop my eyes from welling up
when I attempt to understand the physical pain and mental agony the kid is made
to go through. More so,just because we as a race in spite of all our
advancements and capabilities cannot find a way to feed our own kind in a
different part of our world. We all have little ones at our own or at extended
families and that kid in the picture is someone’s baby. That kid also deserves
to run around, laugh aloud, be fed, be loved, go to school, realize his dreams
and live through his destiny.
Now, war is something which almost all
of us would say ‘No’ to. But apart from the few who are part of the armed
forces, we do not get to witness the hurricane of destruction that a war
unleashes. We do not realize the pain it spreads. We are blinded to the loss of
lives, the suffering that families are made to go through. A few of you might find it hard to look at
this picture taken by Kenneth Jarecke, the American photojournalist. It shows a man who was incinerated when he was trying to escape
from his vehicle. This photograph is from a war zone in a country that was devastated by war. If you can’t bring yourself to look at this picture, imagine the plight of
this person who went through hell! He is burned from head to toe and pain would
have traversed through every cell of his body! That person there is a son, may
be a husband, he has a family like you and me. Sufferings like this which are beyond our worst nightmares happen during a war. Whichever side of the
imaginary line of a ‘border’ one is, a loss of life is a loss to the humanity.
At every war waged across the world, it is humanity that dies a slow painful death.
I believe creative endeavors should
be aimed at spreading happiness and should attempt to inspire people. But these
two pictures deserve to be seen and talked about. The next time we think of a
war or sanctions on the third world, these pictures must bring tears to our
eyes. I pray and hope those tears will clear our vision which often gets
blurred by the wall of region, religion and race!
Arun Babu
No words for these...I have seen the above picture so many times....every time I feel a little more ashamed of me.
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