Silver Eye Field Triip

Title: That There Not Be So Much Blood Shed In San Onfre, Columbia
by Martin Weber

I found this picture and dream of a man and presumably his children very stirring. The setting for this picture is a simple hut with a dirt floor, made out of bamboo that is supported by bare tree poles. The father sits in the front center next to the main "pole" with a white ball cap in his hand. His young daughter stands somberly on the other side of the baron tree. A small boy is a little bit behind to the left of his father. There is a trace of a smile on his face. The man holds a rake in right hand. The rake has bits of trash attached to it, suggesting that he is not a farmer but a street cleaner. They do not look like they are hungry and their clothes are not tattered. The girl even wears earrings and fashion sandals. There are clothes stored on shelves in the background. I believe the father has a menial job that feeds and clothes his family but forces them to live in the urban sprawl of the city.

This family is living in poverty that we can't imagine in the United States. Yet, his wish is not for more material things but for a safer environment. He will be satisfied with a meager existence but wants to live without the fear that his children or himself will be maimed or killed. He lives in a country where the government is in a constant fight with the drug lords and does not care for its poorer citizens. The black and white photo reveals the drabness of the lives of these people. With all its faults, we are lucky to live in the democracy of the United States of America