This afternoon:
I tend to think of myself as a fairly level headed kind of guy. I have feelings and passion but, I am rarely (if ever) moved to tears. This afternoon I posted a picture that truly did move me to tears. Even as I type this now I find myself welling up a bit.
The events of the last few months surrounding "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" and an all inclusive Employee Non Discrimination Act. Couple these with gay marriage issues. All of these hit home and they hit home hard. I am moved, not by the struggle itself but, by the overwhelming support that I have from friends, family and yes even co-workers.
A co-worker who has no vested interest at all in either of these struggles and a male co-worker at that. How awesome and powerful this world is that we have people like this. Somehow gives me hope in our future.
The picture:
This picture was certainly worth a billion words. I imagined it being a high school function. The power behind what our youth are doing strikes a nerve.
This image speaks to the very heart of the matter. If it weren't for the fact that there is bigotry in our schools, families, churches and in our own government there would be no need for these demonstrations.
The thought moved me so much that I had to write about it. I was not at a computer and doing the research on my iPhone was proving to be a difficult task so, I put out a call to my friends and fans in that post, on twitter and on facebook.
The outpouring of people who rushed to help find the information was absolutely amazing. It spoke to the fact that I was not the only one moved by this photo. Jay (http://www.jaysays.com/) also took on the search. His followers helped to find out where it really came from. And so the information trickled back to me.
And now I know where it really came from.
On April 16, 2010 at World's Fair Park in Knoxville, TN these K-12 students gathered for an annual event called "Breaking the Silence". The earliest post of this picture (with comments) is located on flicker at http://www.flickr.com/photos/75001512@N00/4550427537
There is hope for us yet!
until next time, I'm OUT!
Hi!
ReplyDeleteI didn't realize until I started digging through my flickr stats that people were trying to find out where the picture was from. I took it on April 16, 2010, and talked about the event a little on my blog in this entry if you'd like to know more about what was going on:
http://arethereanymorecookies.blogspot.com/2010/04/last-weekend-part-1.html
Hi Joel!
ReplyDeleteThank you so much! I don't know how you found my blog but I'm glad you did! I read your post and am not following.
I started reading some of your past posts, WOW! Great stuff.
Thanks again!