Vietnam

We are again educated by a photo taken by Sebastio Salgado found in his book Migrations on page 345. This photo shows a Vietnamese man with two framed photographs. One of them is of him in his younger years, dressed in his military attire, and with his medals clearly visible. The other photograph is of his wife who had passed away years previous. The man's face gives the evidence of the life he has lived, full of trials and hardship. He is an older man who gives the impression to the viewer that he posses knowledge only experience can give.

In 1954 war erupted in Vietnam. This war was between northern Vietnam  southern Vietnam. The north was wanting to unify the country under a communist rule, while the south fought against it, along with her ally, the United States. At the peak of the war in 1969, there were over 500,000 American soldiers in Vietnam fighting. Then in 1973 Richard Nixon ordered the American troops to come home. It wasn't long after ( in 1975) that the north took over the country making it a communist government. It is estimated that over 3 million people were killed in the Vietnam war, more than half of them being civilians.

 As stated earlier, one of the photos the older man is holding is of him when he was younger in his military uniform. This photo was taken when he was in the Vietnam war, fighting against the American troops. The medals on his uniform make it obvious that he was a good solider. However, despite the fact of him being a strong solider and being on the "winning team", his face is still a face of solemnity. This face of solemnity I believe illustrates the after effects of war. The after effects of war are most often emotionally scarring to a country and its population, as I have stated many times in this blog. Even though this man was a decorated solider, and fought on the side that eventually claimed the victory, he was still suffering from the effects of war, and the loss of his wife. As there are many reasons that different nations go to war, some justified others not, I would hope that we would support our troops in whatever global conflict they may be involved in. Remember that they aren't the ones who started the war, and yet they often are the ones who suffer with the greatest emotional harm.

Salgado, Sebastião, and Lélia Wanick. Salgado. Migrations: Humanity in Transition. New York:    Aperture, 2000. 345 Print.


Salgado, Sebastião, and Lélia Wanick. Salgado. Migrations: Humanity in Transition. (Pamphlet) New York:    Aperture, 2000. 26  Print.


"Vietnam War." http://www.history.com. History . Web. 14 Nov 2013.

Abandoned Babies

One of the most intriguing and symbolic photos I have seen this year is found in the book Migrations by Sebastio Salgado. This photo shows dozens of babies on the roof of a FEBEM center. And in the middle of the page we one baby sitting on a high chair. Where did all of these babies come from? Why are they there? These are children who have been abandoned by their families. 35% of these children were found abandoned on the city streets of Sao Paulo, while the rest were delivered up by their parents to the center FEBEM.
There are two very interesting insights I find about this photo. First, we need to realize that there are children out there who are in need. There are children out there who have been abandoned. Maybe they still live at home and have not been abandoned physically by their parents, but they have still been abandoned by their parents. Poor relationships between a child and their parents lead to complex problems such ad substance abuse, crime, and emotional challenges. Where in this photo these children have been physically abandoned, we see this issue each day of children who have been emotionally abandoned by their parents. The problem is still the same. In both cases neither child gets to know their parents.
The second insight I found interesting was of the baby in the high chair. With dozens of babies on the ground, we have only one in a chair, away from the chaos. I feel this represents those who are well off in the world. I feel this most likely represents you and me. We sit on our "high chair" of comfort in the world but away from it at the same time. We can see from our position those who are struggling on the ground and from our "high chair" we cant do anything about it, or we choose not to. Let us choose to help those who are crawling on the ground by helping those who have been abondend. Being placed on the "high chair" gives us that opportunity to help them.


Salgado, Sebastião, and Lélia Wanick. Salgado. Migrations: Humanity in Transition. New York:    Aperture, 2000. 314-315 Print.
Salgado, Sebastião, and Lélia Wanick. Salgado. Migrations: Humanity in Transition. (Pamphlet) New York:    Aperture, 2000. 23-24 Print.

Left To Tell

This unbelievable story captures the emotions of the Rwandan genocide. The author of the book succeeds in relating her story by using her personal experience of the genocide. Her experiences are about everyday life such as school work, family, and boys. She is just an everyday human being who is about to experience a nightmare--the genocide.

  Each evening as I read this book I found myself having trouble putting it down. I wanted to read more and more. Knowing what happened next consumed my mind.  Where this book doesn't focus on the politics or the whole reason why the genocide happened, it really captures what happened to the "everyday" Rwandan. This book really changed my perspective that even the best of people can do stupid things if they put themselves in a wrong situation. It also helped me understand that even in such tragic times there will always be good human beings to fight the evil of the world. This book highlights those individuals who help hide and protect the targeted Rwandans.

One last element of the book is the author’s hope in God. This hope is what sustained her through the genocide and helped her learn to forgive. Whether you believe in God or not her belief in God is very thought provoking and character building. Her beliefs and ideas can help change anyone in a positive way by giving them hope for the future. If a person  needs a boost, or a book that will help them appreciate life, I would highly recommend LEFT TO TELL. This is not an easy book to read; in fact it is very difficult to get through each page because of the high emotion and detail given by the author. However, I would not hesitate in saying that it will change whoever reads it. It helped change me in the understanding of hope and forgiveness. By speaking about her personal experience I believe it can help anyone who is looking for a change in life.