Thursday, June 21, 2012

Our Summer 2012 Release is Here!

Our Summer 2012 Release is Here!

 

City Escapes Nature Photography brings you fifteen new images in our latest release, "Summer 2012."  Featuring images from a Japanese Garden in autumn, the Galapagos Islands, and the Andes, this landscape-heavy release is full of bright colors and enchanting creatures.  Come lose yourself in the beauty of Mother Nature!

 

Come and find a new favorite!

 

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CITY ESCAPES Nature Photography, LLC

www.cityescapesphotography.com

509-396-5154

 

Saturday, June 9, 2012

City Escapes Nature Photography Newsletter - June, 2012

CITY ESCAPES

Nature Photography, LLC

 

 

Newsletter

June, 2012

 

 

 

 

Lessons from Our Travels, Part 3: When Children Beg

 

Travelers generally travel because they want to experience new things, see the unfamiliar, and learn about the wider world.  Not every encounter the traveler has is a positive one, however, and some leave them wondering how best to react.  This is often the case when the traveler encounters children beggars, some barely old enough to walk, hands outstretched in the hope of obtaining the largesse of the foreigner.  While the reaction to these children beggars runs the gamut from heartbreak to contempt, depending upon the particular observer, few people remain completely unaffected by them.  And many travelers find themselves in a quandary: they want to help these children, but what is the best way to do so?

 

The first step must be to understand the dynamics of the situation.  More than once, we have heard travelers make very damning remarks about the child’s parents and family situation, assuming that the parents sent the child to beg.  While in some cases this is true, and indeed we have even heard a few horror stories of parents intentionally mutilating their children in order to more effectively prey upon the sympathies of the foreigner, in many other cases the parents are actively trying to keep their children from begging.  Children the world over, as every parent knows, are extremely adept at figuring out how to get what they want.  It is hardwired into all of them, all of us, as a basic survival skill.  Learn what works and you have a better chance of survival; don’t, and you are at a distinct disadvantage.

 

Children who have learned that foreigners will give them things will skip school in order to meet the trains, boats, and Land Rovers that bring the tourists.  They will shirk their chores and duties, and bring their siblings into the world of begging.  They often lose respect for their parents because their parents, despite working very hard to provide for their families, cannot give them the types of things that a tourist will casually toss to the child.  Child begging fundamentally undercuts the entire structure and authority of the family, and thus the society, and can severely limit the child’s ability to progress by providing a reward system for avoiding education. 

 

While it might be tempting to blame the parents for allowing their children to beg, it takes only a moment’s reflection to realize that no parent can watch over all of their children all of the time.  Especially in the poorer regions where child begging is rampant, the adults in the household must all work in some form or fashion to help provide for the family, often very long hours.  The parents cannot take the time to ensure that their children are actually at school when they are supposed to be, for they must be at work during those same hours – often struggling to earn enough money to send their children to the school they are skipping.

 

When the traveler understands the dynamics of child begging, it becomes apparent that the reward system inherent in begging is a major impediment to these children’s futures as productive members of their own societies.  Thus, the logical conclusion is to remove the reward for begging.  In other words, don’t give them anything.  And I mean anything.  Some travelers think that as long as they don’t give the children money, it will do no harm to give them other things such as pens or candies.  This is not the case.  To these children, such items are still significant rewards with all of the attendant negative effects of being rewarded for begging. 

 

This ban on giving anything to a child who appears in need may be especially difficult for those of us who react in a strongly emotional way.  Our hearts leap out to these children, our protective instincts kick in, and we feel a powerful impetus to do something to help them.  The challenge is to realize that our gut instinct to give them something may not in fact be helping them, but rather hurting.  We must remind ourselves that their long-term well being must supersede any short-term gain.  We must understand that just because a child is dirty and barefoot does not mean that he or she is neglected.  (How many commercials and advertisements do we see every day for products to clean our own children’s clothes after a rambunctious day of playing outside?  In many, many parts of the world, children spend a great deal more time outside than western children do.)  The fact that their houses may be constructed from materials different from those we use does not indicate a need for us to “fix” them.  And we have absolutely no right to undercut their parents, their family, and their future to assuage a few emotional pangs. 

 

Does this mean that we should ignore those in need?  Of course not.  We should, however, first determine who is truly in need, and onto whom we are thrusting our own misconceptions.  After that determination is made, we must work within the framework of the community to ensure that our desire to help actually has the desired effect.  For example, working with a local school to donate pencils and notebooks to all of the children in attendance not only gives the students the tools they may need to complete their studies, it also rewards the children for pursuing an education, rather than for skipping school to beg.  Working with the local community to discover what they really need can greatly multiply the positive effects of our urges to help by benefitting the entire community, not just a single child. 

 

Travelers should not be afraid to help when the situation calls for it.  They should, however, do their homework to ensure that their charitable impulses are actually helping, and not undermining, their intended beneficiaries.

 

 

You can find Parts 1 & 2 of this series in the February and March 2012 issues of the City Escapes Nature Photography Newsletter at our archive.

 

 

 

June’s Monthly Specials

 

Get 10% off of “A King in Waiting – Lion Cub” and “Arctic Arch” when you order from our specials page at http://www.cityescapesphotography.com/specials/

Offer good on unframed, 10x15 prints of “A King in Waiting – Lion Cub,” and unframed, 8x12 prints of “Arctic Arch.”

 

 

June’s Fun Facts

On June 5th, Venus passed in front of the sun.  Though the planet did not cause an eclipse, it was be visible as a dark spot on the disk of the sun (that we all looked at as a shadow on the ground through a pinhole in a piece of cardboard, because we all know better than to look directly at the sun, don’t we?).  This Venusian trip is the second half of what is known as the transit of Venus, an eight-year period in which the planet passes in front of the sun exactly twice.  Once both crossings occur, they will not happen again for over a hundred years: transits are separated by alternating periods of 121.5 and 105.5 years. 

If you missed it, mark your calendar: the next one will be in 2117. Or, you can check out the NASA time lapsed video of the event on YouTube at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Z9rM8ChTjY  

 

 

       

If you have any questions, or suggestions for future newsletters, please email us at: relationships@cityescapesphotography.com

 

Become a fan on Facebook at

http://www.facebook.com/pages/City-Escapes-Nature-Photography/119004291172

 

CITY ESCAPES Nature Photography, LLC

www.cityescapesphotography.com

509-396-5154