After reading the many blogs, I can definitely say that I've changed even just a little bit, and quite blown by some of the ideas, ideas that I've never questioned. Among those blogs were Shawn's "iMedia: Children" and Chris Jenkins's "iMedia: Haiti."
Shawn's post dealt with the differences in the observation of adults in comparison to the child in the youtube video. I agree wholeheartedly that, "It is never to late, to be a child."
Although the link didn't work, I've seen similar instances on other youtube videos, and you're right, it is truly amazing how much fun they seem to have. That is, in comparison to our daily lives and like you said even the professional conductors like Mutti, they seem to be so serious. I think a lot of it comes from our society, we have constant pressures, expectations, challenges, and I think that trying that hard daily sometimes takes the fun out of many things, and we tend to follow a moot, boring take on life. For the kid, he has no limits, no expectation, no pressures (except perhaps throwing on a good show :)). I think it's a little sad at times when we are so wrapped up in what we want to do and what we desire that we forget the happiness of a child. We are constantly telling little kids to grow up fast and mature, but isn't it time to tell adults to stop growing?
~ I really liked this connection, reminds us to be kids, and that it's ok to be a kid once in a while.
My response to Chris's blog post was definitely a bit emotional and disappointment with the human race, with myself. Chris talked about the idea that our mindset is clearly, "me first" and how that forces us to make decisions. That in the end really surprise us. It's incredible how even the role of photographers' is hardly questioned. Yes, it is their duty to take pictures and report, but even up to this point?
~ Wow. That's unbelievable. I agree with you one hundred percent. I feel that we naturally look at this picture and see it as, the photographer is just doing his/her job. However, we've never really asked what exactly his/her duty is when(s)he's placed in a situation like this. It's so easy to forget who we are, and we tend to forget our duty to other humans. It's really sad, in my opinion, that we are brainwashed into this selfish nature because we haven't experienced this kind of pain and hardship. Or even in general, the mindset is definitely, "me first, and my welfare comes before your." Where exactly has our world come to? As humans we naturally have the instinct to save our own skin first, but what good will that do for us as a human race and as humanity?
In all, I can say that reading these blogs had an impact on the way I view things now and will definitely be in my mind. All I can say, thanks for saying it out loud for others to hear!