Snapshots of Life

The other day, I read about this photojournalism website. It updates every hour, and shows the most popular worldwide news photos and events for that hour. Then each day, it weeds those down to where it shows the most newsworthy information for that day. Then it sorts the information by week, then month, and at the end of the year it wraps up into this one big photojournalistic summary for the year, like a postcard snapshot of 365 days, all compressed into just a few images. It sounds like a satellite view of life on Earth. Interesting idea, huh?

For a few days, I wondered what a satellite view of my own life would look like. Overall, would it be a picture of joy? Of worries? Of service? Of worth? How do the seconds and minutes and breaths and years of my own life boil down? What trends would there be? What is my life really made of?

I reflected on that for awhile, then I started thinking about this: Most of the really good stuff that happens in life isn't in the Associated Press photos of the day. Yeah, in the "Year in Review" piece we'd see the stock market plummet, and Obamamania probably looks like quite a big beast from space. But what about the photos of babies born into families who love them? What about the compassion people show in times of loss? What about the families in the stands at the ballgame who are cheering their kids on, and the adults who are caring for their own parents in their old age, and the doctors who are curing unfathomable maladies, and the teachers who are guiding our children, and the humanitarian aid we provide our own neighbors--day in, and day out? It doesn't sell newspapers to include all those everyday, common photos of life--but would a snapshot of life in 2008 be complete without those images of humanity?

I'm gonna check out the website (when I have a better connection) and see what it's all about. I'm curious. I'm also expecting to be discouraged. Headlines are pretty grim, normally. I'm going to remember, though, that life is the sum of all its parts. The good, the bad, the ugly...and the joyous, novel, and fresh. If we weren't sick, we wouldn't need a Doctor. And isn't it incredible to know that the Answer to each year's problems remains steadfast and unchanging--no matter what the Associated Press reports each hour?