I had intended this as a comment, but it grew . . . .!
Pakistan!
(American River Canyon has a very informative diary up here. Jacob Freeze had a very good diary here (he’s had two ) and pinche tejano didn’t miss a stroke here.).
This picture drums it ALL into your psyche!
Pakistani flood affected people look towards an army helicopter which was dropping
relief supplies at the heavily flooded area of Rajanpur, in central Pakistan Sunday,
Aug. 15, 2010. (AP Photo/Khalid Tanveer)
Apparently, it really got to this one Sun-Times regular columnist.
August 17, 2010
BY MICHAEL SNEED Sun-Times ColumnistI’m 66 years old and, as they say, I’ve been around.
Traveling to the world’s broken places is not unusual for a general assignment reporter, which is basically what I am.
Only Monday morning, I didn’t have to smell it, hear it, or see it on television . . . or even be there — in order to feel the story.
It was the extraordinary power of one photograph — a black-and-white still photo, an AP pix by Khalid Tanveer — which transported me into the world of 20 million homeless people affected by a flood in Pakistan of biblical proportions.
This extraordinary still life of a scrap of land, surrounded by water, occupied by goats, cows, baskets, and strewn with the detritus of desperate people, was the cradle of life in harm’s way.
And it was the majesty of a hand-held newspaper; a chance flip of a page controlled by whim; and the profundity of silence — that made me take notice.
I have chosen to devote column space today to this stunningly provocative piece of film. Study it. Place yourself in it. Imagine the nightmare and the need.
And then be what we were born to be: Americans whose pride of place should always be standing next to someone in need.