Image

Now that I’m old I should have seen it all by now. But I haven’t and to tell you the truth, I don’t want to see anymore than I’ve already seen. I have a weak stomach for certain images. If I see a gross or disconcerting picture I’m quite bothered. It really disturbs me.

Yesterday, I was looking for a picture of a back and came across a picture of a “back-alley abortion” (it sounds worse than it actually was). Still, it’s an image I’m having trouble getting out of my head. What made the image so disturbing; besides the umbilical cord and the blood, was the picture’s aesthetic. From the thumbnail on the Google search page (I did an image search for “back” with safe off), it looked like a picture from a party. When I clicked on the image, I was shocked to find it wasn’t some chick (no face shown) spilling her drink, but instead a woman losing her baby.

The lighting, the dress, the pavement made the photograph far more unsettling than the blood or the gore. It may be safe to say that as one grows old, you don’t become used to disgusting images (unless it’s a product of your job) you come to respect life more.