A Triptych of Photo Ops

Photo Op I

I first experienced it at the Auschwitz Concentration Camp.

The sightseeing bus

stopped outside the entrance of the camp.

The tourists spilled out.

Ubiquitous cameras in hand.

Snap. Snap. Snap…

And back on the bus they filed.

They never crossed the threshold of the camp.

Never encountered the gas chambers.

The ovens.

The ghosts of tens of thousands.

They never heard the echoes of commands, gunfire, cries.

Never smelt the remnants of the smoke.

Never contemplated the cruelty.

The tragedy.

The failure of humanity.

Death Camp as Photo Op.

Yet they can say

they visited the Auschwitz Concentration Camp.

They even have pictures to prove it.

Did these tourists ever grasp the irony?

Arbeit macht frei.

Work sets you free.

Outside the camp, they of all, were the most imprisoned.

Photo Op II

She struck a pose.

High fashion.

Breeze.

Dress flourished in the afternoon sunlight.

Click.

Strong.

Monumental.

Martin Luther King, Jr.

Eyes piercing.

Upright stance.

Arms crossed in surety of self.

Backdrop.

Message muted.

Photo Op III

Bronzed men.

Hungry.

Unemployed.

Homeless.

Two adolescents.

never having known Hunger.

Homelessness.

To be without.

Joined the line.

Oblivious

to their act of Mockery.

Mother snaps the photo.

Off they go.

Unreflective.

Unmoved.

A teachable moment

Lost…

A triptych of historical ignorance,

self-absorption, or self-imposed blindness?

Death camps still exist.

Hunger, Insecurity and Hopelessness are deeply felt

The fight for Racial Justice continues.

Is there an excuse acceptable to be oblivious

to the suffering and struggles of peoples

past and present?

Historical sites and Memorials are not reminders of the past

but guides and warnings for the present.

They invite us to contemplate the past

so as to act in the present.

Self-reflection and Honesty are critical.

I have been present to three concentrations camps.

Dachau. Auschwitz. Birkenau.

I do not resonate with the Black or Brown experience.

Insecurity, poverty, unemployment, hunger, homeless

are unknown to me.

I am Male.

White.

College educated.

Clergy.

Financially secure.

I am privileged.

Without honest self-reflection

we are blind to the disparities among us

and to our responsibilities to our neighbor.

To whom more is given more will be expected.

Self-reflection unleashes gratitude.

Gratitude accompanies us in our contemplation of the other.

The contemplation of the other leads to action.

Please, no cameras.