Change

The Art House Committee was screening a movie at my college and i hopped along to get a look (have been reading to much of animal crackers of late!). There was an exhibition of WWII photographs of the AFP at a gallery located in the same building. i was early and decided to check it out. There were around fifty photographs covering the entire war, but one was remarkable.

Like all the other photos, this one was black and white too. It was big; as big as a 25" TV screen. It showed three german prisoner's of war. They were surrounded by allied troops who were standing around them in a large circle. The allied soldiers gave the three enough room, not hounding them. All the soldiers looked like normal men; no expressions of heroism, anger, pain or sadness;looked like people in a town fair. I wouldn't say the expression was uncalled for, for the three prisoners were boys. Fourteen years old. Dressed in proper German gear and in a coat this seemed rather large for them. They didn't seem distraught. Far from it. The fellow to the extreme left had one hand in his pocket and with the other was holding an apple from which he had already taken a bite. He had a cocky expression; seemed like any other smart aleck fourteen year old; not a tinge of arrogance or defeat; you would think this was part of a play from high school. The other two seemed equally nonchalant. Each one was eating something else. They were enjoying whatever they had and seemed to genuinely happy to pose for the pictures.

If you place all this context of the war, wouldn't you agree with me in saying those three were indeed remarkable? They were proper soldiers and maybe they did kill. Maybe they were all starved or put to death later. They may all be old men by now. This uncertainity of the future bridged time and space; looking at the photograph, neither they nor i knew what was to happen next.

With so much talk going around with the globalized economy causing change and uncertainity; change that throws open lives; lives that seem so far from the that of any previous generation; i think one must remember that change has always been a part life. Oftentimes violent, stripping a man of his dignity; dehumanizing; even at times such as these, you have hope. You have people who choose not let circumstances defeat them. Not in expectation of some later reward but because of who they were.