Pictures of the Year 2008

I really enjoy looking at masterful photographs as I take the time to sit down and reflect on the previous year. I think that reflection on the year gone by is an important exercise in attempting to understand ourselves and in our attempt to ask ourselves a fundamental question: What have we learned from the year (in this case) 2008? When we think about the top events of the year, those events tend to center on us. Certainly the current financial crisis and the election of Barack Obama are the first things that come to mind as we reflect on the year that was 2008. Granted, both events have global implications, but what about the China earthquake during the spring? Kenya's meltdown at the beginning of the year? Zimbabwe's constant downward spiral into oblivion when one combines the current cholera epidemic there with everlasting political corruption in the Mugabe-controlled government? T he Russia-Georgia conflict over South Ossetia? Pakistan's political implosion? The question of Tibetan freedom? Continuing instability in the D.R. Congo? Needless to say, 2008 has given us much to think about. What is our place on the world scene right now? What is the current state of our planet? Are we learning from past lessons, or are we merely creating more "learning experiences?" For me, it is very difficult to narrow 2008 down to one photo, but I will narrow it down to 3.

Photo #1

No matter how good or pointed Barack Obama's State of the Union Address is in January, there is no way he can more concisely sum up the state of the union than the above photograph does. Laid off from his job at Wachovia Bank in March, Gregory Gochtovtt, 30, of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, decided to enlist in the National Guard. He shipped out to Iraq in December. The look of uncertainty in his face (the uncertainty of his family's financial future, the uncertainty of his career in the financial industry, and the uncertainty of the eventual outcome of the war he is shipping out to fight in) tells the story of America in 2008 better than any photograph I've seen from this year.


Photo #2

We oftentimes forget or ignore the fragility of democracy, especially in the African continent. The month of January offered the world a sobering reminder of this as contested elections in Kenya devolved into ethnically-charged violence. This photograph summarizes well the instability of democracy in a continent that is still in the process of the democratic experiment that dates back only since the 1950s. Tragically, Kenya is oftentimes considered to be one of the more stable of Africa's fledgling democracies. However, fears rose of a Rwanda Part 2 in Kenya at the beginning of the year, and stability looks temporary at best at the moment there. The election of Barack Obama in November brought Kenya back into the news, considering his being the son of a Kenyan father. What his role will be in acting as a stabilizing voice in African politics remains to be seen, as his hands will be full with a multitude of other issues upon his inauguration.


Photo #3

2008 was indeed a year of change in the American political arena. Bob Gates was a symbol of change in the handling of the Iraq War, sending American policy there in a different direction from his predecessor Donald Rumsfeld. The Bush administration was forced to suspend their ardent values of complete free market economics in order to bring some semblance of control to a nose-diving financial market. Finally, and perhaps most telling, was a change of position on the legacy of the Bush presidency, even by his own party. The above photograph is of a tearful George W. Bush via satellite at the Republican National Convention in St. Paul. This leader of the Republican party was not even invited to the GOP convention. The tears are open to so many interpretations, making this photograph an interesting shadow of 2008. Change indeed.

Time Magazine has 48 of their top photographs of the year 2008 (including the 3 above photos) up on their website (which you can view by clicking here). What are your favorite photos of 2008? Which photos lifted your spirit? Crushed your heart? Gave you hope? Gave you reason for reflection? Your thoughts...