Pulitzer Photography

I came across the Pulitzer Prize-winning photography collections today.

The winner for this year is a black-and-white series on a boy dying from cancer. Impossible to read and not cry.

Last year’s winning entry is fascinating. It’s a look at dead marines transported back to the US from Iraq, and the funeral process their families go through. The caption on one photo says this:

Marines lift the flag off the casket of Lance Cpl. Evenor Herrera, preparing to fold it for the last time and present it to Herrera’s parents, Blanca and David Stibbs, center. After watching so many scenes of grief, the Marines involved say the cries of the family never leave their mind. “It’s almost enough to wish that you could take his place, so these people wouldn’t hurt so much,” said Sgt. Kevin Thomas.

That’s a powerful thing to say. It reminded me of another powerful statement:

You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

(Romans 5:6-8 NIV)

It’s a great thing. But how do you talk about the power of death being overcome with someone afflicted so terribly by the power of death now? One part of the answer is the truth above, the other part you see in this photo series, as a man stands by and walks with a widow in terrible grief. Love and presence are powerful things.