THE VULTURE AND THE LITTLE GIRL

"The pain of life overrides the joy to the point that joy does not exist... I am haunted by the vivid memories of killings

and corpses and anger and pain...of starving or wounded children, of trigger

happy madmen"

                                       - Kevin Carter

'The vulture and the little girl' also known

as the 'struggling girl' is a famous photograph taken by Kevin Carter. In April

of 1994, Carter won a Pulitzer prize for the photo. Unfortunately, that was not enough

to erase all the tragic events he had witnessed and photographed in short life

from his mind and he took his own life that July. 

The photo showed a starving toddler who was struggling to keep up with others and laid down to rest. Carter captured the heartbreaking scene when a vulture landed nearby and stalked the emaciated girl. 

The photograph was published in

The New York Times on March 26, 1993.

Carter was heavily criticized for his photo

as many thought he should have done 

something to help the girl. For being helpless in front of a starving girl, Carter

was not happy for receiving his award, 

as a result he ended his life. 

We all are human being, we smile when we are happy and cry when we are sad. 

Similarly, hunger is also an emotion we all have. Every year around 9 million people 

dies of hunger. If someone ask me what

is my favorite food I can undoubtedly 

say that it is the food that I get when 

I am starving, even if it's a piece of rotten 

bread, for me it tastes much more than a burger. Yes! that's what hunger is... sometimes it teaches man lesson and sometimes it kills man. 

I strongly believe that nothing in the world is much better than quenching one's thirst

or feeding the hungry. As we all know, 

'sharing food is sharing happiness'. 

So try to spread happiness. I know it's not

that easy, but at least try not to waste 

food anymore. It will be easy when you 

recollect the faces of starving kids in your mind before dumping food in garbage bin. 

But who keep all these in mind? Running behind money and fame people never mind all these. Buckets of food is being 

burried after auspicious occasions without

considering the fact that every day 25,000 people die of hunger, including more 

than 10,000 children. 

- Fazna Faizal