Skip to main content

horrified

so, i'm not sure if any of you have ever seen this photo before, but i saw it for the first time tonight. if you haven't seen it, this was taken by a guy named kevin carter during the famine in sudan in 1993. it won the pulitzer prize in 1994. it's a picture of a little girl, completely emaciated from hunger, crawling to the u.n. food center, which is about 1 km away. and yes, that is a vulture following her.
now, the story i heard tonight was that he waited 3 hrs to get the right shot (waiting for the vulture to open its wings) and when it didn't happen, he just took the pictures he had and left. just left. didn't do anything. just walked away. and then a few months later, he committed suicide. he was blasted by the journalistic community (and a lot of other people, i'm sure) for not getting involved in this little girl's life beyond taking the picture. no one really knows what happened to the girl, and this picture has become one that is used to show the horrors of famine and poverty in africa.
when i got home, i looked it up online and found a couple of different versions of the story -- he only waited 20 minutes, he chased the vulture away, the vulture flew away eventually, the little girl made it to the food center, he sat under a tree smoking and crying for awhile after it happened, the suicide was the result of a bunch of different things in his life, the suicide was because of guilt, he was told not to interfere because of disease, etc.
no matter what the real story is -- and i'm not sure we'll ever really know -- it's horrific. to wait, any length of time, to watch something this devastating occur and then do no thing about it, especially when it's in your power to do something in that moment, even to make it better for one person, to make a difference in one life, is absolutely disgusting.

the caption above the picture when i saw it said "putting down the camera and getting my hands in the game." it's hard, when we see pictures like the one above, not to want to do something. in the face of such suffering. we often wonder how it is that we can't respond with some action.
but what i think we often miss is the things that are right here, in our towns, in our cities, in our neighborhoods.
what is staring us in the face right now where we're the ones in kevin carter's situation -- behind the camera, watching the horror, yet not getting involved? where we have the opportunity to make something better, to make a difference, to change someone's world (and, most likely, to change our own in the process), but we're standing on the sidelines, observing? or maybe it's that there's something we're seeing all around us, that we experience on a daily basis in the world around us, that God's calling us to do something about, but for whatever reason, we're still holding the camera up, not getting our hands in the game.

where are we standing behind the camera? where are you?
where am i not putting the camera down and getting in the game in which God's calling me to be involved?

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

she's my wife!!

today at the j: kids, playing in housekeeping... r: go call my girlfriend. w: who's your girlfriend? c? r: no! (kids keep saying names) w: is it k? r: (looking very insulted) no! she's my wife! hahaha :) and... (trying to talk to one of our kids about being still in circle and helping our friends listen) me: e, i know that you can listen and learn at circle when you're moving and rolling and talking. you understand things and you remember what we're learning even when you're all over the place. e: yep. because God gave me a brain.

confidence in uncertainty

don't we all wish we had that? when we have no idea what is coming or where God is leading or what we are supposed to do, wouldn't it be nice if we felt confidence and peace during the uncertain times in our lives? over the last couple of months, i've really been wrestling with some uncertainties. about everything. who i am. what i'm meant to do. where i'm supposed to be. who God is, and says He is. who God says i am. the path God says for me to follow. asking and struggling. wondering and fighting. crying and laughing. understanding and then being lost in confusion. experiencing peace and then being overwhelmed by worry. but finally, there is a bit of an end. because i've made a decision. one that my soul made a long time before my head, i believe. a decision to follow. to trust. to be uncertain. to leave baltimore . looking at it through my eyes, i can't say that it really makes sense. i have a family here. abounding opportunities t

happy new year! and....a quarter of a century

happy new year, my friends! i hope you celebrated in a fun way and were with people you love :) i was able to see some friends i never get to see new year's eve...and then was back at my parents' house by around 10:15...and was in bed by 11:30.... i did not stay awake to welcome in 2010, but i'm ok with that :) in other news, i'll be a quarter of a century old in a week. 25... i'm not one to freak out about my age (at least not yet) but 25 is a good year, i think. and in honor of my turning 25, i've decided to make lists of 25. because it'll be fun, and who doesn't love a good list? and because i spent yesterday traveling, the first list is a travel list, but is by no means complete or comprehensive....there's no way i could make a full list of everywhere i've been or would like to go.... so, enjoy!! 25 places i've traveled or would like to travel (red = where i've been, blue = where i'd like to go) 1. new orleans,