Thanksgiving holiday!

[Asher Kelman]

This is the time of year when turkeys curse Native Americans for having first introduced them to the British Colonists!

That's how visitors can get to take over the place, LOL! It has sas happened all over the world with every race and ethnic group that survived!

Thanksgiving has a wonderful feeling for Americans as thanks and celebration for what one has in life, as opposed to what one lacks. It's when people take a break from the hustle and bustle to recognize each other and experience the warmth for friends and family.

We try not to think of the negative. All those bad things going on!

Things that horrify us (war, homicide attacks, young people sacrificed and people believing their team has some God-given destiny over everyone else,) are ancient in origin.

There are, however, right now, billions more people today than ever existed on this planet.

Why? Nothing today limits our growth. There is imbalance. We have, unfortunately, vanquished the (painful) controls that wiped out most infants and mothers, prunig the population: disease, hunger, wild beasts and the like. These cruelties are mostly historical oddities, except in sad places like Darfur.

We now, the visitors, threaten very existence of even our own lives on this planet. It may well orbit our ordinary sun for eons. But we, most likely, will play no part on it. In the end, the issues like arsenic in the water, methane in the sky and the loss of species diversity will collapse all the higher life forms.

Still, for now, as with the coming holiday seasons, we wouldn't know any of that. It's far too serious!

From November 1st, all the stores greet us like they really know us! Whether we like it or not, the bugles will sound for the silly toys and trinkets we get worked up about!

Nevertheless, we should indeed jump at these chances to celebrate. After all, recognition of what's valuable might make things worth protecting for the future.

This is my wish to all of us in OPF, to have a wonderful season of celebrations, revisiting ones kin and friends and seeing what we have is worth treasuring. I like to think that photographers will not only capture light, but also act as a lantern to for us.

So without further ado, Happy Thanksgiving and happy holidays to follow!


Asher

 

[nicolas claris]

Bonjour Asher
Thanks for this kind message for all of us (those living on the blue planet), however, with your legendary kindness and enthusiasm, it seems that you forgot 90% of the Africa continent, a good part of Asia without forgetting a lot of South and Central America. Most of people from these parts of our World are still starving, without work, without food.
This is certainly why so many are trying to come into our "rich" countries. Legally or illegally to get some work and food.
Here in OPF everyone whishes to share photography skills and techniques, why not hope and dreams too?
On my own I sincerely hope that our governments will, for a while, think about other's deseases, and try to help better than they maybe do.
"I had a dream!" (ML)

Sincere happy holidays, and please don't call me Jacques Chirac! ;-)

 

[Asher Kelman]

Bonjour Asher
Thanks for this kind message for all of us (those living on the blue planet), however, with your legendary kindness and enthusiasm, it seems that you forgot 90% of the Africa continent, a good part of Asia without forgetting a lot of South and Central America. Most of people from these parts of our World are still starving, without work, without food.
This is certainly why so many are trying to come into our "rich" countries. Legally or illegally to get some work and food.
Here in OPF everyone whishes to share photography skills and techniques, why not hope and dreams too?
On my own I sincerely hope that our governments will, for a while, think about other's deseases, and try to help better than they maybe do.
"I had a dream!" (ML)

Sincere happy holidays, and please don't call me Jacques Chirac! ;-)

My very good and perceptive friend Nicolas! Chirac? That honest fellow? I no longer accept calls from him! Still, you more than make up for his minor faults!

Your reaction is correct and also not!

It is correct because there is indeed a lot of human suffering and this is to our shame. It is correct because you must announce this.

However, the core of my point is that our progress in clean water, and disease control has unleashed population explosion which consumes us. what is happening in the so called 3rd world is only happenning at a different rate than that which will occur everywhere.

There is a great delusion we are in, part of which are the Thanksgiving and other holidays.

Ultimately we are destroying our ecosystem and in the long run it doesn't matter much who destroys which continent first!

There's enough food in Africa to feed a good stable population, but not an ever-growing one. Logarithmic growth of anything is a ponzi scheme that must implode! There are no exceptions.

One cannot have antibiotics and running water and ignore the resulting population explosions.
The single largest factor in our current ecosystem failures is the logarithmic growth of humans and their toxic waste. We need sustainable human societies that we treasure, irrespective of any racial considerations. We have, at present, scant experience for this.

Our societies have to be subservient to a sustainablility test, or we are finished.

China is not starving! They are just using up the wood and steel like the USA, Japan and Western Europe has done for the last 200 years! 90% of the world are not starving. However, they are expanding faster than we can deal with. There's no respect for what we can sustain, only a race to control resources.

Man, for this planet, is the disease.

So I just see this issue on a different magnificiation scale.

When I wish people good cheer for the holidays we have here, it is with sincerest hopes, for all our happiness. For in this, I believe, treasuring what we have, we'll value it more. For this to work, we need insight and enlightenment. Perhaps we as photographers, can, by reflecting on the human condition, contribute to bringing reality to our ill-informed opinion-makers.

We might then, perhaps, husband this planet with more sense!

Otherwise, there's no planet for anyone!

We have to start by treasuring and appreciating our lives of being fortunate. Insight must follow of course.

Again, Happy Thanksgiving and Happy Holidays!

Asher