This is one of the saddest, and most beautiful, pictures I have seen in a long time. Sad, for the obvious reason that no son should have to lose his father at such a young age, as well as because it's debatable whether there was adequate justification for sending this boy's father to war (and ultimately to his death). It's also a beautiful picture because it captures a moment so well. I don't think you can look at this picture and not feel for this little boy. You see him trying so hard to hold it together, and your heart aches because he's too young to have had to grow up so quickly. It's precisely because this picture evokes these strong, visceral emotions that it's so moving. If I ever decided to become a photographer, this is the type of picture I would want to take: pictures that force you to reflect on the condition of another group of people, and hopefully spur you to do something about the injustice you're getting a glimpse into. I think about it sometimes, and maybe we wouldn't feel as strongly for the victims in Darfur were it not for the fact that we can see pictures of their suffering. Likewise, even though I have often given thought to what it must be like for those who have lost members of their family in Iraq, no article has made me feel the way this picture has, or caused me to reflect as long upon these families' losses.
posted by Kris @ 9:54 AM
3 Comments:
This is such a heart breaking picture.
The little boy seems so stoic and brave despite his sadness... it's almost like he's already stepped into his fathers shoes.
I had the same thought, and he seems so brave, but it made me feel awful because having to fill his father's shoes has robbed him of his childhood.
When I was much younger, a high school classmate of mine died in Vietnam. I attended his funeral during the summer after my sophomore year in college, but I did not go to the cemetery, and so missed a scene that absolutely rocked my little town in South Carolina for weeks.
His mother, when presented with the folded up flag, THREW it, shrieking into the face of the soldier who handed it to her, that her son had died for NOTHING. She was right, and this little boy looks to be in the first stages of being brainwashed into the false patriotism so prevalent now in this country.
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