I'm such a nerd when it comes to quotes and photography. Put those two together and you have "memes" and random photos with quotes on = love. For this purpose I've created the category "Wednesday Words", where I one Wednesday a month (random date) share one of my photos with a quote I find shareable. So if you like quotes - this is the shit!
The first quote in this category will be one of Albert Einstein. Albert Einstein is supposed to be the world’s most misquoted person if one is to believe random people on online communities. I surely don’t hope this particular Albert Einstein quote is wrong, though… I like this quote because it says a whole lot about humanity. The willingness, or unwillingness, in this case, to change and grow.
Kathmandu 2008-2009
While living in Kathmandu, Nepal, I saw trash thrown everywhere, simply because a specific caste was responsible for picking it up. This caste was also responsible for removing dead animals from the streets; something I was aggressively informed of when I myself tried to move a poor dead puppy. Things you just don’t do… apparently…
China 1994
In China 1994 I was attacked by an angry female police/guard at “The Bund” in Shanghai. While yelling at me in Mandarin she had a steady grip on my arm. Since I didn’t understand a thing, she started making gestures, and we interpreted her as if I had spit on the street. I hadn’t. The woman seemed adamant, though, and soon enough plenty of Chinese had assembled around us. I found the whole situation unpleasant. Arrested in China? No, thanks. At last, I panicked and just broke loose, so we just left. She continued screaming after us, but we just picked up the pace, and luckily she didn’t follow us but just stood there screaming…
Thailand 2010-2013
While living in Thailand I also saw people throwing trash around in a way I’m not used to from back home. However, in Thailand it wasn’t an issue about someone else picking it up, like in Nepal, but here it was just something you did. Without any deeper thought… I did not notice any difference depending on where in Thailand I was, I mean, if I was out and about with the locals in the rural areas, or in the deep tourist areas with other farangs. Same same.
Humans seem to expect that “someone” else will always pick up our trash.
I don’t really understand this mentality, not taking responsibility over yourself or the world you’re living in. In some way I feel this quote about insanity fit perfectly with a photo I took in Lahansai, Buriram, Thailand. There was this awful smell over the dump, the sun and heat was melting the trash, producing fumes. Several dogs ran around scrounging for food. If you look close enough you can see one of the dogs in the photo…
Of course we have dumps in Sweden too, but they don’t really look like this, and seeing this hurts me. We – humans – are so quick with trashing the world, and destroying our homes, without a second thought or even considering the consequences of what we’re doing… There are people today living on dumps, and if that doesn’t break your heart, I don’t know whatever could.
Ponder it…
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