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Nowadays civilization in the modern world is not a problem any longer. We have the biggest cities with the highest skylines, which result to be the ones that have more issues: contamination, thefts, rapes, poverty… And so, the problem is not located in the cities, but in the people that live in it. The civilization is not formed by citizens any longer, only by lonely characters that must care for themselves. And if they want to help others, society stab them in the back. So, what made this civilization turn into a non-civilized group? The most powerful governments are the ones that only care for their power and teach their population that, if in this modern society you care about others, you can end up dead. And so, it is a lonely path for everyone. So, in this environment of vanity and loneliness, the most needed grow up. The tight-fisted governments don’t care about poverty, and so they must make their way on their own to survive.
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​​Two women are talking, and one man is reading a newspaper. Again, they all are too busy to look or care about that strange man. She is indeed turning her back to him, turning a blind eye. In the background we can see more people, some of whom are talking, and a tree is between the camera and them. So, difficult to see the poor guy. Too far and too lazy. However, there is a man just in the middle of the photo that seems to be looking right in this direction. He could be looking at this poor man. Let’s just say he is. It is a dangerous affirmation. However, it would be so difficult that from seven people that we see, no one can see him. And even if he is looking at him, it is only one person. It is indeed scant.
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We can understand by poverty, the lack of means necessary to meet basic personal needs- which are a dwelling in conditions, with sanity, running water and electricity; a public healthcare system; healthy alimentation; clothing; and free access to education-, so as to live with dignity having a good quality of life. If this is so, then the man in the photo, scavenging for food in the bin, he lives in poverty. Perhaps it is not extreme poverty, but he lacks the means to meet his basic needs and this takes him to "forget" his dignity, at least for a while. After all, we all need to eat. Yet, I wonder who is less dignified: the one who has to eat others' leftovers or the one who pretends not to see the poverty around. In my opinion, whenever we turn a blind eye on any problem which affects humanity, we are the ones to point at. Because that man could turn to you and say: " Once I was like you!".
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By Enric Solé
This image shows what surviving really means: trying to grasp whatever can be saved from any bin, basket, or landfill. As we see, he is standing in the middle of the photo, with a bag on his left hand and searching for something to reuse from the bin. He really stands out, although nobody is watching him. There is a man sitting on a bench on the left, working on something that he has in his hands, probably because he has a sprain. However, he is too busy to look at the other man. And although I could say he is not a poor man, they dress very alike: a scruffy, worn-out jacket, with a pair of black jeans. So obviously appearances don’t stand for poverty or richness. Behind the man, there are three people sitting on another bench.
