Tags
Aylan Kurdi, blogging101, Creative Writing, Heavy Cloud, Joao Silva, Journaling, Kevin Carter, Kim Phuc, Reflections, Writing 101
I was answering a comment my friend Kim left on Let me show you… Heavy Cloud’s poem to little Aylan Kurdi that I reblogged yesterday. I asked her a question, and I’d like to hear what other folks think about it, too. This was my comment:
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The sad thing is, how many other children (and adults for that matter) have died trying to flee the terror over there. Why does it take a picture of a child to stop us in our tracks?
Like the one of the little girl in Vietnam who was burned from the Napalm.
On June 8, 1972, AP photographer Nick Ut took this photo of 9-year-old Kim Phuc as she ran from an aeral napalm attack.
Or the little girl in Africa who was dying and the vultures were circling her.
In March 1993, while on a trip to Sudan, photojournalist Kevin Carter was preparing to photograph a starving toddler trying to reach a feeding center when a hooded vulture landed nearby. Carter reported taking the picture, because it was his “job title”, and he was leaving. He was told not to touch the children for fear of transmitting disease. He committed suicide three months after winning the Pulitzer Prize.
According to Joao Silva, another photojournalist, Carter was quite shocked as it was the first time that he had seen a famine situation and so he took many shots of the suffering children. Silva also started to take photos of children on the ground as if crying, which were not published. The parents of the children were busy taking food from the plane, so they had left their children only briefly while they collected the food. This was the situation for the girl in the photo taken by Carter. A vulture landed behind the girl. To get the two in focus, Carter approached the scene very slowly so as not to scare the vulture away and took a photo from approximately 10 meters. He took a few more photos before chasing the bird away.
Taking that picture affected Kevin Carter so much that three months later he took his own life. So here’s my question to you: Why is it that two weeks from now we will have forgotten another dead child’s picture?
Impromptu Promptlings 
A picture of a child (or group of children) is a much more emotional jolt then seeing a picture of a adult in the same circumstances. The problem is so much larger then the children. It’s about all life. We need to look beyond the images and take care of the underlying issues that cause it. It’s a tough topic. On one hand we want to help all those in need and on the other hand we ask ourselves when did we become answer to the problem. Myself, I think we need to start here at home. We have kids right here in the US that are starving, have no place to sleep in safety at night, who need love and care. When did we decide that a child overseas comes before a child in our own nation? We need to help ourselves first in order to help others.
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More of those really good points. You’re right especially about the underlying issues. I think until the world at large sees this whole terrorist issue as everybody’s problem and we figure out how to work together to put an end to it, it’s only going to get worse. And that’s APART from fixing things here. But even when that happens, the folks living in those countries where the terrorists are have to be willing to stand with the world against these monsters. The big question is HOW do we do that?
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Politicians do not want to help unless they are forced to by pictures such as those being put out there. Personally we can help by keeping info flowing maybe sponsoring. There are places here in Canada that need help like clean water and roads to get to mainland , housing that does not flood etc. If politicians do not help people in our own countries it is hard to see them helping others unless forced to. Unfortunately because Russia and China would not allow the fight to go where it needs too to fix the issue where it needs to be fixed we cannot stop what is happening. Some people will be saved but so many more have and will continue to die.
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The sad thing is, Donna, you’re absolutely right. This world is such a convoluted mess. How can we ever expect to fix anything if we can’t take care of what’s right within arm’s reach. Sigh… 😦
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UNFORTUNATELY
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How many Children have to die before the Powers to be take notice. I donate to many Charities, Animals and Children Charities and I wonder as each monthly payment goes by just how much of it goes to helping. In many Countries where Charities help out the Government Agencies take the aid before it reaches the starving, their own people, they do not care. I remember the morning on way to work when I collected my Life Magazine and that little Girl running featured, I was shocked then and still am. Children are easy targets, you cannot stop it as much as we want to help. More and more of these scenes will be shown to the World. Sorry I am going on too much, apologies.
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That’s quite alright. And you make a very good point. We can’t save the world, can we… Sadly. But if each one could save ONE we’d be so much closer. We checked into a lot of organizations before we decided who to give our money to. Compassion International came out on top hands down. It’s like Mother Teresa said when asked how she saved all those children. She said, “One child at a time…”
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Mother Teresa was a very wise individual. Princess Diana cared very much too and did a lot privately. When she started the campaign about Land Mines, and see the Children destroyed by them, she was laughed at, look now what good she did. Prince Harry take a look at what he is doing, so like his Mother. It is the Politicians who just talk and talk, who gave a damn when Israel was bombing the hell out of the Palestinians, their target Children and Babies and for what, land, is it worth it? Did that as a race themselves not suffer enough in the last War yet they cannot live in Peace. Apologies if I have offended anyone, but the truth at times does offend. Politicians, a b….y waste of space.
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You probably have a LOT of believe who agree with you about politicians! I’m glad Prince Harry followed in his mother’s footsteps. It would have been a shame if her spirit would have passed totally from this world.
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I think the issue goes well beyond a photograph of a child. The face of a child–or any photo of a child projects an innocence an naivety that we, as adults, lose. I think that’s why photos of children in instances like the above leave such an impression. It’s human nature to forget many things. People have their own lives to contend with–and in our present time–living just ain’t easy. Our healthcare sucks. Our politicians are slimy and don’t care about people–just themselves. The cost of living is rising by the day but yet people aren’t making enough money. Corporations, insurance companies and banks are making money–but we aren’t.
Stuff may leave your mind–but you don’t forget. I don’t think of the Twin Towers every day–but I have never forgotten and will never forget 9/11. I STILL cannot bring myself to go to the memorial. I worked there a long time ago and lost friends that day….we may seem like we forgot–but we haven’t.
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It’s human nature to forget many things. I think I may agree with that, but I wonder what it means and how it works. You weren’t there on 9/11 then, Catherine?
Thank you for that well-thought-out comment. I will be thinking about that statement for awhile…
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No. At that point I wasn’t working there. Many people in my neighborhood died. Childhood friends died. It as six degrees of separation. Some of my politics changed that day too. SOME–not all–I’m still pretty much liberal…
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It was a horrible time. I remember turning on the news at breakfast just as the second tower fell. It was so surreal it was like watching a movie. We are so numbed to the realities of our world because we see so much of that kind of stuff on TV. Even with stuff like this little boy. The 24-hour news stations will play it over and over until it just becomes background noise to us. THAT’S the travesty. The media. Or at least part of it. So glad you weren’t still working there. Can’t imagine for a moment even how you must have felt as it was all happening…
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