My Father's Archives #4

This is the photograph that had the biggest impact on my life (and continues to do so). The picture was taken in the sertão, the driest region of Brasil, where water is a precious good and where the absence of it means death. It shows me at the age of 5 drinking water from a calabash.

This picture shaped and defined my perception of myself. Whenever I went through difficult moments, whenever I had to overcome periods of emotional, spiritual or financial drought, this picture gave me solace.

Whenever I look at this image, it reminds me that there is abundance in scarcity. It has helped me to never lose hope. It has always given me the assurance that the water of life is always at hand. All I have to do is drink from it.

My father probably doesn't know how this photograph, that he took instinctively at some point of our lives, virtually defined my attitude towards life.

There are so many lessons in this. One of them is: Never underestimate the power of photography! It has a life of its own and can affect the life of someone without you even knowing.

Somehow, this is what the blip community is all about: We all try to show the magnitude of our lives and the beauty we find in little things. Sometimes the lenses of our cameras discover abundance where our eyes see only scarcity.

(Thank you for all the birthday wishes, stars and hearts you sent yesterday from around the world. This morning, when I asked my daughter what her favorite present was, she mentioned YOU!)