Friday, August 16, 2013

Conversation #4 ~ What am I willing to notice in my world? (pp. 82-89)

Kevin Carter took this photo of a starving child watched by a vulture.  This haunting picture came to mind when I decided to use a photo of "suffering" for this conversation starter.  Kevin Carter took this photo in March 1993 in Sudan and died in 1994 of suicide at age 33, leaving this note:
"I am depressed ... I am haunted by the vivid memories of killings and corpses and anger and pain ... of starving or wounded children, of trigger-happy madmen, often police, of killer executioners ..."
Even the photographer suffered.  I learned about Kevin Carter several years ago, when I read Masha Hamilton's 2004 novel The Distance Between Us, which mentions him.  Her book is dedicated to "Kevin Carter and journalists everywhere who put their bodies and their souls on the line to cover war."  This photo, winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Feature Photography in 1994, haunts me.  How does it make you feel?

What do you think Wheatley means when she asks us, "What am I willing to notice in my world?"

12 comments:

Bonnie Jacobs said...

I underlined a couple of lines of the poem "A Prayer for Children" on pages 88-89. We pray for children...

...whose monsters are real
...who go to bed hungry and cry themselves to sleep

Shirley said...

The photo is quite haunting. The photographer's suicide adds to the sorrow depicted.

My note for this question was that more and more people are shutting down as their way of blocking out the suffering in the world. I think that the blocking out is not that people are uncaring, but there is a feeling of helplessness of being able to do anything to alleviate the suffering.

Zorro said...

"more and more people are shutting down as their way of blocking out the suffering in the world. I think that the blocking out is not that people are uncaring, but there is a feeling of helplessness of being able to do anything to alleviate the suffering."

Yes.

Zorro said...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LpRPaBGtoZU

MJW on Perserverance.

Shirley said...

Not only was it good to hear this perspective of the definition of perseverance, but also to see and hear the author. Thanks for sharing the link.

Bonnie Jacobs said...

I ran across this quote today with a photo of two girls (one black, one white) by Sigi Kolbe, a Namibian photographer and painter. You'll recognize it in this slideshow:
http://sigikolbe.wix.com/kolbe

"No one is born hating another person because of the color of his skin, or his background, or his religion. People must learn to hate, and if they can learn to hate, they can be taught to love, for love comes more naturally to the human heart than its opposite."

— Nelson Mandela

Shirley said...

South Pacific's "You've Got to Be Taught" is quite true.

Two examples:
Although I knew for years about the Brown V Topeka Board of Education decision, I had not realized my direct impact until seeing a 2004 exhibit at the capitol which included a picture of my first grade integrated class. I thought this not only showed how unaware we were of the change in class make up, but how wise the adults in my life were to not mention it.

Several years ago my oldest son asked my youngest son which basketball teammate he was referring to. After a long description (height, glasses, etc.), my oldest son said, "Oh, why didn't you just say the other white kid on the team?" My youngest son realized this and said that was true. (This is the same son whose high school teacher said that she had great respect for him. Their class was one that included several kids from the special needs classes. The other kids just ignored them. However, my son always made them feel welcome and invited them to join his group for group projects. When I mentioned this to my son when I returned home, he didn't seem aware that he'd done anything noteworthy. My daughter said something about them being retarded and my son just said that he hadn't realized what that word even meant and that he included them because he didn't want them to feel left out of the class.)

I think that discrimination is one of the things that is taught.

AuntyDon said...

The first thing I noticed about the poem "A Prayer for Children" is that every other verse is either about "common situations" or "abominable situations." All children need our notice.

Shirley, I agree with your statement "there is a feeling of helplessness of being able to do anything to alleviate the suffering." I see that feeling of helplessness in me.

I believe children are born loving and all the prejudices that each of us develop as we grow into adulthood are learned. If we open ourselves up to noticing what is going on worldwide, we become that loving child again. We then can go about making our corner of the universe better.

Shirley said...

The idea of working on "making our corner of the universe better" does sound much more doable.

Bonnie Jacobs said...

Speaking of Masha Hamilton, some of you may remember that we read her book The Camel Bookmobile a few years ago. (See the list on the blog's sidebar for the link to our discussion.) Masha said she writes about societies in transition: "When we share stories, we develop tolerance for each other and for people who are different.” Read about the day I met her, here:

http://bookbuddies3.blogspot.com/2008/04/meeting-masha-in-person_11.html

Shirley said...

Thanks for the tie in between the photographer and a former author as well as the memory of your "party crashing". Did you take the novel writing course?

Bonnie Jacobs said...

Nah, I didn't take her course, first because it was more expensive than I could afford right then, and later because I decided I'm not really a novelist. I'm better at writing nonfiction. Everything I've ever published, I think, was nonfiction.