Once upon a 20th century, the world was moved by a picture of a girl. It was not any ordinary girl, though. She was known as the Afghan Girl. A girl who resided in a refugee camp who has her heart filled with devastation and anger. Her picture was photographed to be on the front cover of a June 1985 National Geographic magazine. Little did the photographer know, that 'normal' picture he had taken grabbed an overwhelming global attention.
Why did such picture grabbed so much attention?
Let's consider a few things,
- Her eyes are so haunting, it is as if she is piercing through your soul.
- A lot of people know so little about Afghanistan, or how their people look like, except the fact that they are always claimed as 'terrorists' by the media in certain countries.
- Her eyes tell her story; A pain suffered by a naive 12 year old who is still in need for parents' love, but that was taken away by some human's cruelty.
- Because she is Middle Eastern, it is unusual to have bright emerald green eyes.
Despite so many suggestions, the final answer remains subjective.
Personally, I think it all lies in the artistic value. This picture raised so many thoughts. Some people feel that it is very artistic, it's just good art. Some people feel that the picture is worth so much attention because of how her eyes captivate people. To sum it all up, it's simply because her picture moves thoughts.
For 18 years, people have been looking for her, but to no avail. Finally, in 2002, a National Geographic team successfully located her in a remote place, where she lived in poverty. For 18 years, her picture is known to the world, famous. However nobody knew her name. She had fame in anonymity. If her name was known 18 years ago, she might have lived a better life than now.
This is a video showing on how The Afghan girl, now known as Sharbat Gula, was found.
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