This image is of a homeless man, but what did you notice first. The art piece? Or the impoverishment showcased subtly in the image.

Photography is amazing – it encapsulates the beauty of pretty cities and fancy lights, it captures fleeting moments and emotions, and it’s an injection of nostalgia for our past recollections; on the other hand, it captures memories which we’re grateful for their transience – happy that they may never have to resurface again, captures negativity and numerous forms of societal vices, and on the wild, highly extreme end of the spectrum (as shown in the picture), penury. 

Don’t worry if you noticed the art before the homeless man, it’s metaphorical and doesn’t have any scientific backing that suggests you’re a bad person. I’m only trying to pass across a message – a message about something which is preeminent in the society yet so easily ignored, poverty.

It’s so easy to, in our little bubbles of happiness and glow, admire the blessings and gifts we have (with all right to), but ignore those which others are deprived of – to neglect the opportunities we have to help people who are far less privileged than we are, because of our privilege. In many ways, our gift of privilege is like a blinder, shutting our eyes to the prospect of instituting change in the lives of others, but with wide arms, accepting rays of increasing self-centered desires.

This is not meant to be judgmental, and I don’t believe I have come across that way. I’m simply calling on everyone, and pushing myself too, to help whenever we can – volunteer, educate, learn to help others learn, pass on and create opportunities, and be caring. The World is on a journey, and we are it’s wheels – let’s make it move in the right direction.