We were probably standing still here, not to give the kids a chance to pose for me, but still, they did. I was almost always in the last car, looking back at what came towards us and my camera was never far away. We were for those kids, probably what the police or firefighters were to us when we were that young. I was stationed in an area of Cambodia bordering Thailand. It was an erea that was abandoned for many years because the Kmehr Rouge was holding out there to the last moment. After the first UN soldiers arrived, the people living in the refugee camps in Thailand came slowly back. Most of them were born in refugee camps in Cambodia’s neighboring country and had no bond with the area aside from some sparse stories of the elders who survived the killings. These kids you see here are most likely not aware of what happened to the place they soon started calling home; by now, they probably know what they live there.
picture
Day 2486, just enough.
Daily picture, PoetryThrough the early winter into the long night I survived by the grace of the place I ended hanging by a thread in just enough light for my dying conscious rotten corps the coming spring will never let me bloom again but that is just a fact
Day 1918, still live.
Daily picture, PoetryI went slowly
in one direction
till I suddenly
exploded
and froze
in all directions
Day 1842, tool.
Daily pictureAt work
I have more tools to cut
trim or straighten
all the access I encounter
then I have in my life
~
how strange.
Day 1841, reaching to far.
Daily picture, PoetryIf you start building
make sure you have everything nearby
otherwise you might fall over
when you have to reach far
Day 1838, i freeze.
Daily picture, PoetryWhen I fall
I sometimes freeze
not knowing that hardness
easily shatters
Day 1833, glass.
Daily picture, PoetryIt was gray outside today
but the light reflected the colors
that I imagined
or wished for
on this thin layer between me…
~
this thin layer of glass protects me
from the storm outside
and it keeps me
from the storm outside
~
I can only break it
once
Day 1827, a carved rhyme.
Daily picture, PoetryOnce you decided
to shoot for an other sun
~
and now you lie here defeated
the rings of your years displayed
telling a story of time
and now the end that you reached
Day 1826, hiding.
Daily picture, PoetryI saw you standing
close to the crossing
but I was not looking
at you
~
its your likeness
I recognize
while I stare
at what’s hiding
me
~
I don’t move
away
hoping you
will
Day 1818, Daybreak II
Daily pictureMorgenröthe aka Daybreak
Book I
32. THE BRAKE.—To suffer morally, and then to learn afterwards that this kind of suffering was founded upon an error, shocks us. For there is a unique consolation in acknowledging, by our suffering, a “deeper world of truth” than any other world, and we would much rather suffer and feel ourselves above reality by doing so (through the feeling that, in this way, we approach nearer to that “deeper world of truth”), than live without suffering and hence without this feeling of the sublime. Thus it is pride, and the habitual fashion of satisfying it, which opposes this new interpretation of morality. What power, then, must we bring into operation to get rid of this brake? Greater pride? A new pride ?
Friedrich Nietzsche
Day 1817, Daybreak.
Daily pictureMorgenröthe aka Daybreak
Book I
6. THE JUGGLER AND HIS COUNTERPART.—That which is wonderful in science is contrary to that which is wonderful in the art of the juggler. For the latter would wish to make us believe that we see a very simple causality, where, in reality, an exceedingly complex causality is in operation.
Science, on the other hand, forces us to give up our belief in the simple causality exactly where everything looks so easily comprehensible and we are merely the victims of appearances. The simplest things are very “complicated”—we can never be sufficiently astonished at them !
Friedrich Nietzsche
Day 1813, i try.
Daily picture, PoetryAn island in a landscape
surrounded by the ebb and flow of time
a moon that gives and takes
~
the sun shines today
and the sea receded
but it is still to cold
to find my way
across the sand
marked
with silent waves
~
I hear them only
far away
Day 1787, projection.
Daily picture, PoetryA light shines behind me
so I see
my shadow at the wall
~
it moves
and I guess
I do to
~
my shadow seems to know
before me
where I go
~
maybe I am the shadow
and turned on
this light
in front of me
Day 1783, exit?
Daily picture, PoetryI know
whats normally behind a door like that
a dead end when I go in
~
but I still go
searching for a way out
on the other side
Day 1774, Stockholm syndrome.
Daily picture, PoetryI think I never blamed my parents for the way they raised me. It was never really in my character to blame them, and now that I am older I realize that they where just kids when they gave life to me and my younger brother and sister. The way that you are raised has of course an influence on you, but I don’t think we should overestimate it. I was at least lucky enough that my parents wanted to steer me in the right direction, and didn’t blame me to much for their mistakes, but I have to admit that beauty for me cannot go without some flaws, and I like mine.
No matter what kind of parents you have, there is some kind of Stockholm syndrome going on when you think back, and tell your story. Parents get these random, scared little persons thrown into their laps, to take care of. They are not allowed to go, and are ensured by their hostage-takers that they will be fine, as long as they listen to them. After what seems to be ages, they are suddenly free to go, they smell the freedom, like they never smelled it before. And the people that kept you hostage for all these years, you thank them for their protection, and you visit them once a year in their jails.
I am not a parent, but I can imagine that a parent with a conscience is, without a choice, put on a trajectory that revolves around their kids, and no longer only around their own will. This is the kind of jail I was thinking of, but I am not sure that what I feel, is freedom.
The inspiration for today comes from a poem I wrote last year, Day 1577.
I remember the house
where I thought I grew up
~
there was an old chimney
a corner where I played
and my father closed the door
~
in my memories
he was never there
in reality
he often stares at me
standing in front
of my reflection
Day 1770, force of nature.
Daily picture, PoetryAll that lives, or is just matter on this earth, has to live according to natures rules. We all are slaves to friction, erosion, gravity and the sun that puts most of this in motion. Within these boundaries it seems to be a free for all, we see some order in for instance the erosion of a rock formation, but only when we focus on a part of all that is the cause of this erosion.
Wind and water take the softer parts of the rock in their own fashion. We know about the water, and the wind, and rain, we can go several steps deeper when trying to explain what the reason is that rocks erode. My point is that a four year old kid that starts asking questions like: why? That even the smartest person alive can maybe answer 30 times before they have to concede. We are not capable of understanding it all, the closest we get is imagining it in rough strokes and bold colors.
“Imagination is more important than knowledge. Knowledge is limited. Imagination encircles the world.” Albert Einstein
You can replace the rock example from above with history. History is also chaos when you try to understand it all, only when you zoom in, you will get closer to an understanding. But if you don’t zoom in to close, and try to look at that part of history trough the lens of “bolder strokes and many colors” then you will see some highlights, and the more important figures morph into easier to understand caricatures.
A person like Ronald Reagan or Michael Jackson can be described in a book with a thousand pages but I am sure that all of you can do it in three sentences or less. When you make such a bold caricature of a person, or situation, then you (should)know that you are maybe right from your limited perspective, but at the same time totally wrong. To understand Ronald Reagan better you should read a book about him, maybe several, and for good measure, study the eighties. If you have done that, then you can form a more accurate opinion. We are capable of understanding the smaller details in more details, only if you want to understand the big picture you should use your imagination. Don’t use your imagination, when your neighbor so noisy, ask it.
We all share this problem of our nature. It is all so hard to understand, so we adopted our look at reality in such a way, that we are most of the time satisfied with the (almost literal) picture we have of the situation. Look at all the wars that are fought over the years, most of them started because of a misunderstanding of the situation. Remember the Iraq war from 15 years ago, no one was in control there, we understood what was “eroding” our will not to fight, but we didn’t look much further than that.
Inspired by Day 1532