On FB, I removed everything news related and kept only my friends, family and "feel good" stuff. I stopped following anything disturbing.
If I want to be disturbed, I can go to Twitter where there is an endless litany of all news all the time and yes, it's the stuff I have chosen to follow.
What I will NOT and cannot stop following is Brandon Stanton, the amazing young man who created Humans of New York AKA HONY.
He asks questions of people that evoke beautiful responses. Many cut you down at your knees and you think to yourself, "I'm complaining about blahblahblah and there are people who make you gasp at the pain in their lives." There are the people where, literally, the whole world waits to see the responses to see if the guy heard from the girl. There are the kids. The animals. The unseen who are seen through his lens.
I gave at least ten copies of his book as gifts last year.
A picture CAN tell a thousand words.
Starting Thursday Brandon embarked on this: I'll be taking a 50 day trip in partnership with the United Nations, supported by the Secretary General's MDG Advocacy Group. I'll be posting portraits and stories from the trip on the blog. We're calling it a 'World Tour,' because the trip will span over 25,000 miles and circumnavigate the globe. But since there are only ten countries on the itinerary, it would be rather foolish to claim that these portraits and stories somehow represent 'the world,' or humanity as a whole. The point of the trip is not to "say" anything about the world. But rather to visit some faraway places, and listen to as many people as possible. |
Brandon is in Iraq these past two days and has been deeply affected by the people. The comments on these particular photos range from mild to extremist - reading them educates me in ways the news simply cannot.
I loved this response on Facebook from a follower to one of today's pictures.
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/humansofnewyork
Twitter: https://twitter.com/humansofny
Instagram: http://instagram.com/humansofny
And the hangover doesn't pass
Nothing's ever built to last
You're in ruins
http://youtu.be/r00ikilDxW4