Would You Walk Away? Religion Undefiled

So, what is the story behind the photo? (The link is no longer valid or something...)
=) amtP

I am not sure why Broken Messenger is down (there's some kind of irony here...), but here is the post in full here:

Kevin Carter’s Pulitzer Prize winning photograph of a Sudanese girl in the spring of 1993 was instrumental in brining international attention to the growing hunger crisis in Sudan. Despite taking over 20 minutes to take the photograph and eventually chasing the vulture away, Kevin ultimately only watched the little girl continue her struggle on to a U.N. food station (estimated at about one kilometer away) and then left her, never to know of the girl’s fate.

Why didn’t he help her? This has been the question of many since learning of Kevin’s story following his award. Why didn’t he take that frail, precious little girl up into his arms and carry her to safety?

His inaction is not all that hard to imagine after learning about his past experiences, assignments and of his work. Before even seeing the horrors of Sudan, Kevin witnessed and was exposed to attrocities that routinely occured in his own home nation of South Africa. Like any seasoned pro, he had learned to keep an emotional distance from his subjects in order to stay focused on his work - to stay objective.

But Kevin was never able to put a full emotional distance from the events in Sudan following his return back to South Africa. Soon having brushes with death himself following his work in Sudan, and witnessing further horrors surrounding apartheid in his own nation, his vices and personal troubles were only heightened by the day-to-day image capture of human tradgedy. Kevin was also known to suffer from frequent mental breakdowns following photo shoots, including those in Sudan.

Sadly, soon following his elation of winning the Pulitzer in 1994, Kevin committed suicide just two months later. Many believe that he took his life as a result of what he experienced in Sudan. Some believe that past failings in his life, such as a failed marriage, led to his death. Others believe that it was a combination of past and recent events.

But if a picture is worth a thousand words, this one is worth a million. There are memories and images that effect us all deeply in our lives. Visions that impress upon our emotions and then stamp upon our hearts indelible, lasting imprints. From tragedy to joy, we carry them forward for the rest our lives as they shape our character.

Kevin’s photograph has become such an image for me personally. When I see it, I am overcome with sorrow and a compulsion to run and sweep this little girl up in my arms. And I want to just keep running until I reach that aid station - until I know that she is safe.

An irrational part of me also wants to utterly destroy the vulture quietly waiting in the background for the girl to die. I want the bird’s destruction not so much for what it is by nature, but for what it plainly represents. But knowing that the event is long past and its unknown outcome will likely remain that way, the only thing I can do hold my son a little tighter at home at night and vow that if I ever am faced with a situation that God will give me the wisdom and strength to decide differently than Kevin did - regardless of the personal cost.

But with an image as emotionally powerful as this one, there are other lessons to consider on a broader scale. For instance, I know that God looks upon us as this little girl and aches with a longing compassion as we either struggle forward for Him in this life, or struggle on without Him.

And how the Bread of Life (our Lord Jesus) must long for those who reject Him and continue to work against Him. If they could only be fed and nourished by the receipt of His sacrifice. If they would only embrace it and be relieved of suffering the spiritual starvation they now endure, while death waits patiently and stoically for them in the background. For these, aid is not one mile away or a hundred, it is right in front of them! Hungry, weary and exhausted some nevertheless refuse to see or believe that their safety, comfort and salvation is but right in front of them in the waiting arms of a Risen Savior.

And I also wonder how we who believe on Christ would view our enemies and those who live lives that offend us if we were to consider them, from a spiritual sense, as this little child. Could we look upon them with indifference should we make such a connection? If we did make the connection, would we stand by paralyzed with fear of the possible repercussions or seized by doubts of some perceived outcome and offer them no aid? Would we remain silent when opportunities arise to share the Gospel? Like Kevin, would we walk away?

Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth. This then is how we know that we belong to the truth, and how we set our hearts at rest in his presence whenever our hearts condemn us.
-1 John 3:18-19