Shaving by the mirror- Copyright Robert Fullarton 2014

 Shaving by the mirror- Copyright- Robert Fullarton 2014

I know one man, a man in his fifties who has become an aspiring writer, who worked as an aid worker in Darfur, he spoke to me about having to drive and make deliveries through the dry and coarse terrains of Darfur and his battle with alcoholism and depression over many years. He is a cultured man, his stories, his warm smiles, his soft soothing voice and his richly compassionate poetry have left their indelible mark on my life. Once again I can see the importance of my own poetry and the stories we all have to tell and once again I can see the force of good that is at work in people that are at work trying to build their own life for a brighter future and are even at work building the future of others. My friend told me that when he rises early in the morning and he goes for a shave he glances at the mirror on the wall and looks deeply and mournfully into a picture. 

This picture was taken by the famous –now deceased- photographer Kevin Carter and it is a picture taken of a Sudanese boy that was found dying from starvation and the horrific image of a vulture waiting for the inevitable, as the child starves to his demise. Carter won the Pulitzer Prize for feature photography for the graphic horrors of Darfur and especially received notoriety for this iconic shot taken. Carter subsequently took his own life by carbon monoxide poisoning, out of guilt and shame, some would say when he was questioned for the reason he didn’t help the dying child and simply did nothing. My friend told me that he simply has to look at this picture to find his gratitude again. I admire the spiritual honesty and the devotion that my friend has given to his changed self. He sometimes seems to be quite melancholic and sombre, sometimes he seems to be mournful or even hurt, but I hear in his tender voice the richness of the love he has to offer from a world that often does not receive him nor the love he has to offer and that is what I myself too have felt too often. I think to myself where is our matching love and peace of mind? Can we find peace after the fall? 

Can we live like fallen stone sculptures, cracked under baking pressure having nearly died, crashed and burned, cried and sighed so much as we have, can we endure?
 Can we be reconciled to those who only laugh and never have grown old within? Can we find peace in literature? Can we find peace in art, or music, drama, or nature, spirituality and charity? Perhaps we can find peace and love in others so that we can accept ourselves. The world is never what it seems to be, it is not candy coated, sweet or mellow to anyone who has lived long enough in it, but often a fairground where the odds of ups and downs rise and plummet, like games where lives and human fate is at play. Everything is at stake. 

But always know that Love conquers hate because it is willing to die for the belief and life found in love, and let me tell you that there is so much life in love, as a Christian we see Jesus as the physical manifestation of love and I get inspiration from his life and teachings when I hear such stories...I can cry and go on and on...I can cry and get up again...I've been to places I did not want to go to...we all have but what is life? Tell me that, what is life...is it for us to say...this and that or for us to learn and be strong! Be strong!