{"id":63322,"date":"2018-01-04T02:17:08","date_gmt":"2018-01-04T07:17:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/improvisedlife.com\/?p=63322"},"modified":"2023-09-24T20:13:04","modified_gmt":"2023-09-25T00:13:04","slug":"an-antidote-to-the-difficulties-and-terrors-we-face","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/improvisedlife.com\/2018\/01\/04\/an-antidote-to-the-difficulties-and-terrors-we-face\/","title":{"rendered":"An Antidote to the Difficulties and Terrors We Face"},"content":{"rendered":"
Scrolling through Artsy’s\u00a0The Most Powerful Moments of Photojournalism in 2017<\/a>, we were stunned by this image by Joseph Eid of Mohammed Mohiedin Anis \u2014 Abu Omar \u2014 seated on his bed amidst the dust and debris, fallen-in windows and crumbling walls of his bedroom. He lives in the al-Shaar neighborhood of Aleppo, Syria, the site of a deadly battle that devastated the area in 2016.<\/p>\n Eid<\/a> recounted the story behind the image to TIME Magazine<\/a>, taken when he visited the home Omar who is a collector of vintage cars:<\/p>\n As Eid described it, Abu Omar lit a pipe (pieced together with Scotch tape) before playing a record by Syrian singer Mohamed Dia al-Din. Although he\u2019s seated among the ruins of his home, and a third of his car collection is gone, he is embracing the things he has left<\/strong>\u2014a vinyl record player that does not require electricity; one of his favorite songs; sunlight, even if it streams in through shattered windows. He is neatly dressed in a dark green blazer and, it appears, is holding onto hope for the world.<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cWhenever I feel or will feel any kind of despair or surrender to [life\u2019s] problems and obstacles I will always [recall] the image of Abu Omar smoking his pipe while sitting on his rubble-covered broken bed and listening to his favorite music,\u201d<\/strong><\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n