blogging around

DedeL-
The first two paragraphs got me thinking about how the film portrays its characters. I completely agree that our lives meet and exceed the standard of the rest of the world, but also to add that watching a documentary like this, does not give us the full picture. I always used to asked myself, if those filmmakers and photographers could go to third world countries and take those moving pictures and record soul crushing events, why don't they, themselves reach out and lend a helping hand instead of watching from the sidelines? After this documentary and then reading this, I realized that helping out at least during filming, does not give the full picture. It makes the viewer go "Oh, well they're fine now. Case closed." But if the recorded lives were untouched, as if we are flies on the wall, watching what goes on, it has a much more gripping effect on the viewer, making them actually want to make an effort because if not them, then who?

When you said, "it seems so easy to stray off the right path", my mind immediately went to the word temptation. Temptation is an instigator we all know, however, temptation affects us way less than those people living in the Red Light District. We face temptation opposite things dealing with spending money on pleasures, should I go out to eat, should I splurge on a useless hat, or should I throw my quarter in a fountain?None of these would affect us much, if at all, while they would set back any one person in Calcutta. These temptations, compared to those of the Calcutta people, are minuscule little specks of dust compared to the boulders of temptations they face with their decisions in life. If they threw a quarter in a fountain, there goes today's breakfast, lunch and dinner.

Next you made me think about how major the change and influence of programs like these are, and spreading the information around the globe, but at the same time its minor. Paradoxical as it sounds, this is how I think of it. There is no doubt in my mind that these kids have been helped to say the least, but they are a teeny tiny percentage of all the rest of the children in the world living, and will go on living, how they used to live. It's sad but true and an obstacle that we as a population have to find ways to improve.




StaceyL-

This is beautiful to see. It is so inspiring to see that a person that is apparently lost to dementia, comes back to life simply from music.

When you bring up losing our sanity if we had no music I totally understand where you are coming from because there have been experiments that have proven that loss of human contact (vocal) for as little as 15 minutes produces unusual behavior and since most music is recorded human voice, this completely makes sense. Maybe if the nursing home played background music they would have found out sooner that it would help this man and others.

I am thrilled you found this and shared it because this proves how connected we all are to music, and through that, to each other. I wish I could say more but there is nothing I can say or write that is clearer than what is captured on video.