An invitation to feel compassion

We often do not know why we're doing what we are doing. And, why we regularly do not do what we know we should be doing. In other words, I'm rather sceptical of rationalisations for they are nothing but the stories that we tell ourselves after our subconscious has decided what to do (or not to do) in a given situation.

I've never thought the photojournalists' „bearing witness“-argument very convincing. You take photographs of somebody who clearly needs help? I imagine I would feel ashamed yet I do not really know for I've never been in such a situation. And, I wouldn't like to be. 

Or, do you simply do what you were trained to do? Photographers take pictures, this is what photographers do. It is their job to show us photographs of people, places and things that they went to see – a strange job, come to think of it.

However: I highly appreciate it that photographs that document tragedies exist for they allow me to feel with the suffering of fellow human beings (and their close ones), they help me to connect with the world.

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