Count Your Blessings
There was a number of events within a few days which led me to this story.
It started with my daily reading of photography books. This time, it was The Definitive Collection of Robert Capa. As a war photography photojournalist, he participated and photographed many world events between 1932 till 1954. He was killed while covering the war in Vietnam. The book contains 937 images, many of which showed not only soldiers and battles, but also of many refugees. Seeing them and thinking about the uncertainty and challenges of their lives compared to what I/we have to go through during the COVID-19 quarantine, I decided just to count my blessings.
While having a conversation with a friend, she told me that she is ashamed to say it, but she is having the best time of her life. For personal reasons, her daughter had to move into her house together with her husband, two children and their dog. Since neither of them had to go out to work, the family could spend time together sharing meals, walking, talking and playing together.
In spite of the challenges and many people losing their income or even businesses and some – their lives, it seems that the majority of those whom I know somehow manage, and as my friend, even enjoy the opportunity to stay home, knowing that this experience is going to be over soon and we all will return to a version of our previous lives, though for some it is going to be different experience.
You may heard of Dr. Victor Frankl, a neurologist, psychiatrist and follower of Sigmund Freud, who after surviving as a prisoner of four Nazi concentration camps, wrote his best-selling book “Man’s Search for Meaning”, published in 1946. In the book he describes his experience in those camps using a psycho-therapeutic method, which involves identifying a purpose in life to feel positive about, and then imaging that outcome. He observed that some people who had a reason to stay alive for a specific purpose in their lives, survived. However, after the liberation, some experiencing dissolution, committed suicide. One of my favorite sayings is, “Seek for seeds of victory in every defeat”. Therefore I count my blessings.
P.S. Actually what triggered the title and the story, was my recent encounter in Golden Gate Park. While driving through, I noticed a person sitting on the bench, reading. I stopped my car and took a number of images. Then I saw a few other people, who came here to enjoy moments in their lives, or perhaps to count their blessings as well.
Enjoy and Share with A Friend.
