Two vultures

Our dreams as humans is to excel in our fields of endeavor. In every thing we do, we strive to come out as the best. We want to win, we want to be recognized, we want to stand tall amongst our pears, which by the way, is a very good thing actually. However, in our quest to win and to be recognized, a lot of people simply forget how to be humans.

Having spent Four years in one of the best universities in the world and graduating as the best student in photography or what ever they call it, Kelly went into the world with a quest of being the best in the profession. Kelly loved his profession with passion. Everywhere he went, he went with his camera. He even called his camera Nicole. Although Kelly had a girl friend, Nicole was his best friend. He could be seen smiling and heard talking to his camera. When ever he took a picture and it came out nice and beautiful, he kisses 'her' and showers 'her'with praises , and when the picture did not come out nice and beautiful, he had nothing but words of encouragement for his camera as though it could actually hear him. Although Kelly was known by scores of people, he wanted to be known all over the world. For him, the only way to attain the fame he sought was to win an award in photography that is known world wide.

Else where in Northeast of Africa, Sudan to be precise. The country where in great famine, such as had never been experienced by any country in recent years. The people where dying of hunger and starvation accompanied with the fact that the country was in a state of war.

Kelly, travelled all the way to Africa with his camera. Perhaps, not to go seek international recognition, or maybe, for that reason. Anyways, he left for Africa. Upon his arrival, there were loads of pictures to be taken, Kelly had found. By the time Kelly had spent a month in Africa, he had taken so much pictures and sent back home to his country. But amongst the numerous pictures he took, one got him a nomination.

Amongst the pictures Kelly had taken, the one that had earned him a nomination for the award was the one with a baby who had grown very thin from hunger, whose parents had probably died from the war or had died of hunger, lying on the ground and probably waiting for death to come take him away. But as the baby waited , so also did a vulture. The vulture waited patiently for the baby to die so it could feed on the body.

Few weeks after Kelly got nominated, he had travelled back home to attend the award night .

That particular picture was so touching and Kelly was applauded greatly for it. And as expected, he was announced as the winner of the award.

As Kelly went up the stage to receive his award, he was full of smiles and happiness as he had aways wanted to win the award.

In his appreciation speech, Kelly talked about how he had always dreamt of winning the award. Just as he was done talking, a woman in the audience had her hand up. She would love to ask a question or two to the new winner.

Congratulations Kelly, on your award. It was quite a piece, the woman said . But I would love to ask a question. As she was permitted to ask, she continued. What happened to the baby. Did he survive or did he die and the vulture fed on him?

Hearing this question, Kelly was speechless as he didn't wait to find out what happened to the baby. He had left the place as soon as he took his award winning shots.

I do not know, I did not wait to find out, he muttered.

Well then, the woman said. From the picture, one could clearly see that the baby would not last more than an hour before he dies and from the picture also, there was no one around at the time except you of course.

I say to you tonight Kelly, if the baby died and the vulture fed on him, you should know that on that day, there were two vultures. The second vulture held the camera and took the shots.

Hearing this, Kelly broke down. One year later, Kelly Committed suicide.

This story may not be interesting, but I hope it passes a message.

P.S : This is actually a true life story.

I had written this story because I came across the photo below with the caption " There were two vultures and one held the camera"