One Picture Tells 1000 Stories

I was directed for one of my classes to a website with 25 of the most influential photographs of all time. These pictures honestly and frankly tell America's story over the last 80 years more efficiently than any textbook I have read. Some tell of the mountains we have climbed and the progress we have made. Many of the pictures truly show the pain that has been endured. Some are disturbing because you realize these aren't just pictures; they are people, events and stories that actually took place. Hunger, war, racism, and natural disasters are realities of the world that we live in. They are cruel realities, but ones that we must face. Not only must we face them, but we must accept them and where we can, fight them. 90 years from now, there are going to be a set of 25 equally illuminates photographs depicting the rest of the 21st century. What pictures do you want to be shown there? Will they be more pictures of war and violence, hatred and indifference? Undoubtedly, some will tell of horrors we cannot imagine. I can only hope though that some will tell of compassion and charity. Some will show that yes the world has evil, but it can be countered with human creativity, progress, ambition and love. 

Right now you might be saying "This girl is ridiculously ideological." I am, and I take that as a compliment. If you can never expect the human race to get better, why are you here? Look at Martin Luther King Jr. Certainly he was an ideologist. He fought for something no one could foresee happening: equal rights for both whites and blacks. And yet in the last 50 years, America has revolutionized because of the civil rights movement. 

I am not Martin Luther King Jr., Mother Theresa or Gandhi, but I am Anne Katherine. I do not fight for revolutionary world change, but I will argue that one person does make the difference. In your life, you are that one person. So many people undervalue the true effect a single person can have on the world. Pick a cause, and fight for it. If you are unhappy with something, try to change it. If you love someone, tell them. If you don't, what will the world say about you when you are gone? Or will it have anything to say at all? 

If you want to take a look at the site, here is the link. I suggest you take a look. http://www.pxleyes.com/blog/2011/07/25-of-the-most-influential-news-images-of-all-time/

Go change your world, okay? 

Anne Katherine