I’m sure that by now all of you are familiar with this image. In a brief span of time an image that may once have remained buried for years has winged its way around the world almost as quickly as news of the violence that serves as its background. I’ve no doubt that the picture will find itself going down in history – it’s simply one of ‘those’ shots. It’s one of those iconic images that’s perfectly captured, a split second moment of frozen time that illustrates so much that it’s almost easier to dismiss it or ridicule it than it is to analyze the emotions that it touches.
The world knows that the couple so captured has been identified, and the picture will likely follow them for the rest of their lives. I don’t think that necessarily a bad thing. If anything, the story of the events leading the moment we see only adds another layer o the image’s beauty; because this is not a random moment of rebellion, or even a purposeful display of “make love not war” , this is a moment of comfort and compassion captured within a moment of terror and dismay. Like the world famous image of a solider sweeping a random nurse into a kiss in Times Square in 1945, it’s the type of image the world could use more of.
Like so many Canadians, I’m deeply ashamed of the events that followed our defeat at the Stanley Cup. Though there’s no proof to substantiate such a thing , I’m also among those who cling to the hope that the worst of the rioters were not true Canucks fans. Most of us, even those of us who can only be called bandwagonners, accepted the loss with dignity and more than a small bit of sadness. Really, it wasn’t supposed to end this way…
I don’t know what it says about humanity that we would use a sporting event as an excuse to erupt into violence. The riots certainly did not change the fact that we lost, if anything they made use lose more than ever. We didn’t just lose the cup, we lost the respect of countless numbers of people. The flames and fear effectively blotted out what until than had been an example of unexpected, unifying patriotism. Somehow, we forgot what it was all about.
Perhaps that’s why we react as we do to a photo like this one. An image that reminds us that humanity can remain humane even when we are at our lowest. Sometimes we need to be reminded of the extremes before we set ourselves to rights on the middle road.
Perhaps we need those frozen moments in time, no matter how uncomfortable or mixed our reactions to them may be, to remind us that we can – in fact – still feel.
Bright Blessings,
Shaughnessy