Sometimes, amidst the emoticons and heavily condensed phrases of an MSN chat I find an extraordinary thought. This post is about one of them....A colleague showed me the adjacent picture of her daughter, gazing at the Unisphere, a metallic structure symbolizing peace, situated somewhere in New York, USA. While I was struck by the lovely composition of the photograph, I was affected even more by her interpretation of it, which was something like "it's such a little person in a big world... all we can hope for is peace..."
It's easy to read those words and wax eloquent on the importance of world-peace and how important it is for the future generations. All true, no doubt, and also the direction in which my thoughts first moved... but somehow I was not able to write about it... there was something more I sensed in the picture and in her explanation... something that wouldn't let me write unless I wrote about it first...
I've had this picture for a while, almost a couple of weeks now, but I only just understood consciously what my heart saw long ago. This isn't just a picture of a beautiful little girl staring at an awe-inspiring monument. It's also a picture of the parent who clicked the photograph.
When you think about it, it's obvious that a beautiful photograph is a reflection of the photographer, since it captures that person's unique perspective etc. But how often do we really think about this? In my experience it's easier to get lost in the photograph with a cursory "Nice, picture!" thrown at the photographer, who is content with the appreciation. Today, however, I want to come out of that custom and shift focus from the picture, to the one behind it... the invisible soul that leaves it's imprint on the image as surely as the ink, but so subtly that it is seldom noticed right-away.
What I now see in this picture is not just the little girl, but also the love and dreams that her mother has for her... an impossible love that only a parent can have, capturing so effortlessly the beauty of her child... youth, innocence, wonder, enthusiasm all at once. She told me it was a lucky shot, taken almost by chance, but life has taught me not to believe that coincidences are not really all that coincidental. There's an awareness in us all, enshrined deep within our beings (call it a divine spark if you will) that guides us towards such exquisite moments when everything seems to be in harmony, tailor-made for our happiness. I think it was this awareness that inspired her to observe and photograph her daughter so perfectly, speaking volumes about their bond through a single picture of a little girl under a gorgeous, sunny sky.
In a single shot, she shows us the tenderness with which she regards her daughter and the hopes she harbours for the future of her offspring - "it's such a little person in a big world... all we can hope for is peace..." Yes, indeed... it's more than a picture... to my mind it's a silent prayer that a parent's heart repeats everyday, and with special fervour at moments like this, when a child's simplicity and brilliance stands out even against the vastness of creation and anything man could ever make...
When you have a moment, spare some time to say a little prayer for all the children in this world, as I did, when I saw what this picture was all about. May they all grow up in a world of peace, where the innocence of childhood has a chance to blossom as much as it deserves... where a mother's dreams for her baby's happiness become real...
