Some images make you laugh, some make you cry, others might make you think, but this image held me in suspense all night before I could fully process what I was looking at. It is the image of a starving Sudanese girl feebly trying to make her way to a UN feeding Center a kilometer away while being stalked by a vulture. The photograph was taken by Kevin Cater in 1994 during the Sudan famine. He admittedly chased the vulture away after capturing the image, but does not know what happened to the little girl. Sadly, just months later and one week after receiving the Pulitzer Prize for the photograph (which is regarded as the highest national honor in journalism), Kevin Carter committed suicide. Excerpts from Carter’s suicide note expressed how the pain of life overrode his joy to the point that joy no longer existed. Many people are witnesses of the pain and suffering of others, some are even willing to chase away the vultures, but how many of us are willing to feed the hungry or help the helpless?
3 comments:
I wonder if this is how the Lord sees all who are without Him in the same manner as this young suffering child? It is heartbreaking.
I just saw that picture, and I'm sitting here at work fighting back tears... and I'm not even a crier. Jesus, how we desperately need you.
Thank you both for your comments. Yes, what a sad moment. We have grown so numb to violence, suffering and pain that most people just seen this as a captivating photo. Even the photographer said that he waited about twenty minutes to get the perfect shot. He was hoping the vulture would spread his wings. Lord, forgive us.
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