We are family (iheart faces contest)

So this week's contest is all about capturing the essence of family, traditional or not, in an interesting manner. I chose the picture below, not because it is necessarily interesting, but because it is necessarily real. It represents the world we live in, one that is more connected than ever before. This is a world where family is often electrons away, telecast over broadband networks connecting worlds apart. It is the reality that our service members live, it is the world of our government contractors, it is the world of our humanitarians, it is the world of our scholars, it is the world of business, and it is the reality of all who live abroad or apart within our borders.

I've decided to call this photo: Valediction forbidding mourning for lo' we have the video teleconferencing. Not too poetic but straight to the point.



To quote John Donne from A Valediction Forbidding Mourning (lines 21-36):

Our two souls therefore, which are one,
Though I must go, endure not yet
A breach, but an expansion,
Like gold to aery thinness beat.

If they be two, they are two so
As stiff twin compasses are two ;
Thy soul, the fix'd foot, makes no show
To move, but doth, if th' other do.

And though it in the centre sit,
Yet, when the other far doth roam,
It leans, and hearkens after it,
And grows erect, as that comes home.

Such wilt thou be to me, who must,
Like th' other foot, obliquely run ;
Thy firmness makes my circle just,
And makes me end where I begun.

The picture is of my colleague on the day of his promotion to 1st Lieutenant. We were deployed which made it difficult for his family to attend the ceremony in person. But, thanks to technology, they were there for it all. Everyone is smiling, but deep down there are emotions unseen by my camera, but felt by all in attendance--especially by those who have families.

The light conditions were not ideal in the room which is the cause of some fuzziness in the photo. But I did my best to clean it up.

Please enjoy and visit iheartfaces.blogspot.com to view other submissions to this week's contest!

I probably write too much commentary, so I appreciate your kindness and indulgence if you've made it this far down the page.

Bless all the men and women who serve and represent our country daily (civilian and service member alike)!

Cheers,

Yuki