Posted by Stephen Phillips (San Francisco, United States) on 5 July 2008 in People & Portraits and Portfolio.
A humble reflection on those in our midst who have lost much their 'Independence' - here on the streets of our prosperous land.
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Reality is sad. Good shot !
5 Jul 2008 2:27am
@Marie Le Corre: Reality need not be sad - yet this one certainly is. Thanks for checking-in.
No word!
5 Jul 2008 3:14am
@eddy: The problem isn't a lack of words - it is an absence of heart. No society as wealthy as the United States should deny the possibility of a safe and secure roof above the heads of all of its people.
A very good document of the daily drama associated with modern life. It's a complicated issue, but you highlighted the reality perfectly in this shot.
5 Jul 2008 5:37am
@Observing: One of the saddest realities of this life I'm experiencing - is that I grew up in America before there were homeless people. Sure, there were small clusters of (mostly) men - who lived the life of the hobo - who traveled the rails. But they were a very small, nearly invisible minority, who chose their lives outside of society.
The flood gate opened in California when the lauded Ronald Reagan was governor. He closed all but two of the mental health facilities in the state - turning the patients over to so called 'homes'. Privatizing was born. The facilities were inhuman and short lived. We've had broken souls on the streets ever since. He became president of these United States - and expanded the trend. I don't blame Reagan. He was the leader of a populist movement. The numbers were many. The Silent Majority was silent no more. These self-righteous, anti-tax, anti-government, folks would have their way for the next three decades. I don't like the wasteful, consumptive, shopping mall nation they've delivered us. Empty, homogenized blandness.
I fully appreciate all of the complexities of 'globalization' and being competitive. Yet I've watched as huge private fortunes were created on the backs of workers and the poor. Corporate welfare has robbed this nation at far greater costs than would have been required to maintain quality health care and human services for the poor and the working class.
The top one percent of the population owned 9% of the wealth of America three decades ago. That figure is now between 21 and 22%. We are a neurotic and unhappy people by any measure. We spend vast sums on escapism. We are imprisoned. We are judgmental. Our founding fathers would be sickened at our corporate rulers. They fought against the corporation and much was written on this fact at the time.
Republican Dwight David Eisenhower - on leaving his presidency warned America about the industrial-military complex. The men who led us into Vietnam - and now Iraq. Who lined their pockets with our young blood and called any who stood against them, unpatriotic. Dick Cheney and Halliburton - how could I not be sick. He is but one of thousands of greedy, tyrannical monsters who scoff at our freedoms from seats of power in our land. We have been systematically raped - over and over again by these evil men.
We are the wealthiest nation that has ever existed. We are bullies. We are hated. We have failed to carry the mantel of the gift we were handed 232 years ago. That gift requires the elevation of the highest of humanity's nature and spirit. It requires leading by example - not by sword. It requires love and respect - of all of our people - and of all of our neighbors.
Despite all of this - I remain an optimist. I have faith in our young people - they see. They have been outside of the system for the system sickens them as it sickens me. And we have a system that can correct itself without bloodshed. Yes, we need change. We need leadership at the level of Washington, Jefferson, Hamilton, Madison, Franklin, Lincoln, and Roosevelt. Such greatness exists. There is a void of human spirit in our American leadership - and nature abhors a vacuum.
A great journalistic shot.
5 Jul 2008 6:50am
Very well done...
5 Jul 2008 7:54am
What a very sad and evokative image..well done
5 Jul 2008 8:30am
A image speaks a thousand words !
@alex centrella: Indeed, Alex. Thanks.
A great documentary shot which still possesses lots of photographic quality. The red door gives it something really special.
5 Jul 2008 10:57am
@Mirko Herzner: Thanks, Mirko.
very good documentary shot
5 Jul 2008 11:59am
A sad image and all too common everywhere.
5 Jul 2008 12:25pm
Indeed, a sad image...but good composition and the red door works.
5 Jul 2008 7:51pm
wow -- loved your note to Mike, Stephen -- really complements the all too common scene of homelessness and strikes the ball right out of the stadium! i agree (on so many levels) -- and so i travel to stay sane but awake. I do hope the youth of this country can turn this machine around. i dare say you have much more optimism than i do though! i find that most people of my generation love their TV a bit too much to take notice of what is really happening... and somehow i don't blame them -- it is far too easy to be distracted --and far too much negativity for many spirits to handle. we can only hope for the best.
6 Jul 2008 10:25pm
PREVIEW ONLY
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