Photo by Kevin Carter, South African photographer.
"Vulture Stalking Child," Kevin Carter's picture of a starving Sudanese toddler stalked by a vulture, won him a Pulitzer Prize in 1994. Later that year he ended his life because the terror of the consequences of war were unbearable for this sensitive and brilliant photographer.*
"This image of an emaciated girl collapsing on the way to a feeding centre, as a plump vulture lurked in the background, was published first in The New York Times and The Mail & Guardian, a Johannesburg weekly. The reaction to the picture was so strong that The New York Times published an unusual editor's note on the fate of the girl. Carter said she resumed her trek to the feeding centre. He chased away the vulture. Afterwards, he told an interviewer, he sat under a tree for a long time, 'smoking cigarettes and crying.' His father, Mr Jimmy Carter said, 'Kevin always carried around the horror of the work he did.' - The New York Times." Source: Sydney Morning Herald Saturday 30 July 1994.
You've heard it said that the human race is only as strong as its weakest link. There are no words for this terrible scene. I pray with all my heart that somehow this little child survived. Maybe she's alive today, more than 20 years later. Maybe she is also driven to care about other poor little children around the world. Or, sadly, maybe her fate was the same as millions of starving children around the world. They don't make it. They are nameless, neglected, starving and sometimes left to die in the dirt, forgotten as if their brief interlude on Earth never happened. In this case, the child was not far from the feeding station where her parents were getting food and the photographer did chase off the vulture and that the little girl did find her way to a feeding station.
Tragically and terribly, this is only one image of one child. How many others are there?
"Vulture Stalking Child," Kevin Carter's picture of a starving Sudanese toddler stalked by a vulture, won him a Pulitzer Prize in 1994. Later that year he ended his life because the terror of the consequences of war were unbearable for this sensitive and brilliant photographer.*
"This image of an emaciated girl collapsing on the way to a feeding centre, as a plump vulture lurked in the background, was published first in The New York Times and The Mail & Guardian, a Johannesburg weekly. The reaction to the picture was so strong that The New York Times published an unusual editor's note on the fate of the girl. Carter said she resumed her trek to the feeding centre. He chased away the vulture. Afterwards, he told an interviewer, he sat under a tree for a long time, 'smoking cigarettes and crying.' His father, Mr Jimmy Carter said, 'Kevin always carried around the horror of the work he did.' - The New York Times." Source: Sydney Morning Herald Saturday 30 July 1994.
________________________
You've heard it said that the human race is only as strong as its weakest link. There are no words for this terrible scene. I pray with all my heart that somehow this little child survived. Maybe she's alive today, more than 20 years later. Maybe she is also driven to care about other poor little children around the world. Or, sadly, maybe her fate was the same as millions of starving children around the world. They don't make it. They are nameless, neglected, starving and sometimes left to die in the dirt, forgotten as if their brief interlude on Earth never happened. In this case, the child was not far from the feeding station where her parents were getting food and the photographer did chase off the vulture and that the little girl did find her way to a feeding station.
Tragically and terribly, this is only one image of one child. How many others are there?
So often our heart strings are pulled by pictues like this and in desperation we want to help. We want to do something to help this child and millions like her. While it would be wonderful to right now donate to an international fund to help the starving, poor and desperate people, that isn't the whole solution, as you know.
While this little child was suffering in agonizing starvation, there were corporate CEOs who run the world's multinational corporations sitting down to five course dinners, living fat off the land. They're not the least bit concerned about children dying in the dirt. Out of sight, out of mind is their excuse for their crime against humanity. It allows their greed by blinding them to whatever empathy, compassion or even the tiniest hint of humanity remained in their cold money-obsessed hearts. They don't feel the least bit accountable or responsible for what their soul-less corporations do out there.
When I hear - which it seems it's everywhere these days - about the "beast" of Revelation, I can only think that we allow it free access to ravage the planet because we don't recognize it. It deceptively cons us. It stalks us all by feeding us one single little lie. It negotiates for a place to prey on the world's most vulnerable by convincing us that it's doing good for us, good for the poor, good for the world. So, we allow** corporations to go into poor countries, set up factories and sweat shops, leaving ruined communities, social structures broken down, another kind of ugly poverty, wasted lives, wasted Earth resources, as people produce items no one needs, in their wake. The undisciplined beast does it in the name of "economic growth." That's the buzz word the beast utters and we all jump with glee thinking that this oil company or that footwear corporation is actually going to employ thousands of people and help the poor. But it only leaves them all more impoverished while it also pollutes their water, poisoning their land and farm animals with toxic chemicals, and stealing the lives of their children.
And, that's only the first layer of the whole problem. In the first world nations where children like this little girl are not seen, we forget that just because we can afford steak, we could save our money, eat a lot less, and somehow create a wave of compassionate human beings who stand up against the corporations that have literally completely filled our plazas and malls, lining our streets.
In fact, no one even thinks twice of going to any one of them anymore. We want to save a dollar so we go where things are cheaper. We forget that not so very long ago, we went to the local grocer, who we all knew. We did business locally and stopped feeding the mega corporations, who by the way, now are legally allowed to donate to campaign elections. How is the individual voter going to compete for his voice to be heard when mega corporations can fund a campaign and put their corporate friendly candidate in office?
In fact, no one even thinks twice of going to any one of them anymore. We want to save a dollar so we go where things are cheaper. We forget that not so very long ago, we went to the local grocer, who we all knew. We did business locally and stopped feeding the mega corporations, who by the way, now are legally allowed to donate to campaign elections. How is the individual voter going to compete for his voice to be heard when mega corporations can fund a campaign and put their corporate friendly candidate in office?
It's indeed a beast, beyond our wildest imagination. And, there isn't anything anyone can do about it, unless - and this is just a wing and a prayer - we all put these little ones in front of our human eyes everyday and stretch our minds in search of ways to help them.
I for one, cannot eat knowing that a little one like this is starving. We could all do with a little less, and we will be unable to afford as much as we used to purchase if we refuse to support corporate outlets, just for starters.
I guess it has to be grass roots. First, we wake up, then we do something. While our hearts are moved to feed the starving people, we have to stop feeding the corporations. Think about that the next time you go to the grocery story or buy new sneakers. Then, you will see for yourself the hugeness of the problem. Maybe you can still find an independent grocer or shoe store. But, it would be great if we could do this before those small businesses are run out of business. At the same time, we need to pass some serious legislation, but my heart sinks at the enormity of this, and all the while doing whatever you can to make your life count as your vote to find and help and feed the little ones dying somewhere.
* Two months after receiving his Pulitzer, Carter would be dead of carbon-monoxide poisoning in Johannesburg, a suicide at 33. His red pickup truck was parked near a small river where he used to play as a child; a green garden hose attached to the vehicle's exhaust funneled the fumes inside. "I'm really, really sorry," he explained in a note left on the passenger seat beneath a knapsack. "The pain of life overrides the joy to the point that joy does not exist." (from "The Life and Death of Kevin Carter," essay by Scott MacLeod, Time's Johannesburg bureau chief at the time of Carter's death.)
** We allow corporations free access through "free trade," which doesn't regulate international trade well enough and we fail to have a strong control managing and overseeing - which we should be able to do as a democratic nation - our government's blanket permission to allow corporations to do business in the third world)
* Two months after receiving his Pulitzer, Carter would be dead of carbon-monoxide poisoning in Johannesburg, a suicide at 33. His red pickup truck was parked near a small river where he used to play as a child; a green garden hose attached to the vehicle's exhaust funneled the fumes inside. "I'm really, really sorry," he explained in a note left on the passenger seat beneath a knapsack. "The pain of life overrides the joy to the point that joy does not exist." (from "The Life and Death of Kevin Carter," essay by Scott MacLeod, Time's Johannesburg bureau chief at the time of Carter's death.)
** We allow corporations free access through "free trade," which doesn't regulate international trade well enough and we fail to have a strong control managing and overseeing - which we should be able to do as a democratic nation - our government's blanket permission to allow corporations to do business in the third world)
No comments:
Post a Comment