Time flies. We all know it does…which is why we are lucky that there are photographers dotted around the globe, documenting time as it passes.
Next year’s shadow is already darkening this year’s doorstep and while many people are under enormous strain, pregnant with recession, photo editors of the world have been quietly looking back.
Doing so affords us the opportunity to stop for a second and think. These are indeed troubling times. But by looking back, perhaps we can gain a morsel of perspective. From where I’m sitting, Ireland’s agri-sector has been dealt a devastating blow. The jobless rate is soaring and 13-year-olds are gunning down fathers in the street.
But I’ve also witnessed a critical mass bubbling up. Thousands have been taking to the streets to fight the genuine fight – for their jobs, families, health. We have that right, and it is one that we should cherish.
As I write this, somewhere in Iraq a child is quaking in fear. In Zimbabwe a mother is stricken with cholera and wondering how her children will fare should she perish. An Afghani is wondering if weeks on a cramped smuggling boat will end in a new life in Australia – or deportation back to the life he desperately wanted to flee.
So to know that is to appreciate what I have and, as dire as it seems, the position this country is in. And it also can’t hurt to see some of the sweeter, quiet moments that filtered through the woe every now and then.
Here’s how Reuters saw the year.
Issel Kato, Reuters
