Disturbingly Profound

I am in DC this week for a series of meetings.  After today's meeting, I had some time this afternoon so I met Pamela and went to the Newseum.  It has been highly recommended as a place not to miss.  My meeting was only up the street from the Newseum so I figured that it was a good day to visit.  I only got to tour two floors due to the late hour, but it is an amazing place.  Pamela is heading back in the AM.

The mission of the Newseum is to champion the five freedoms of the First Amendment.  It is truly a one of a kind.  Pamela and I agreed that the most interesting of the 15 galleries was the Pulitzer Prize Photographs Gallery.  Every Pulitzer Prize winning photograph is in this gallery.  We also agreed on the most profound photograph in the entire gallery out of the hundreds displayed.  As I have entitled this blog, it is "Disturbingly Profound."  It is both disturbing and profound in a number of ways.  First, it is of a starving child in the Sudan in 1993.  Secondly, behind the child is a vulture playing a waiting game; sensing that the little girl was near death.  Thirdly, the photographer shooed the vulture away, but left the child to die as she was trying to reach the feeding center.  According to the photographer, people were dying at a rate of 20 per hour and he was told not to touch anyone as they were carrying diseases.  Lastly, he left the child to die and regretted it for the rest of his entire life.  You see, he could no longer bear the guilt and a year later committed suicide at the age of 33.  I have attached the photo to this blog not to focus on the morbidity of the moment, but for all of us to realize that in this day and age, no one should ever go hungry.  As a society, we need to do everything humanly possible for that not to happen at home and abroad.