#6 Historical photograph of Werfel and his shoes
A 1946 image, a six-year-old orphan, and the gratitude we have access to every time we find our car keys.
I’ve always thought gratitude was a Christmas emotion.
“Werfel, a 6-year old Austrian orphan, beams with unbounded joy as he clasps a new pair of shoes presented to him by the American Red Cross.” — LIFE magazine, original caption December 30, 1946
Something about this image is so strikingly lovely. I think it’s been overused a lot as a guilt-bludgeon (starving orphans in [insert-country here]).
But for me, the image holds this transcendent gratitude. It’s something needed… and found. This child is so honest in how he savors that moment.
Does the need or its method of resolution really matter? This embrace, and its loveliness, is something we all have access to the next time we find our car keys.
Christmas topics often revolve around injustice and lack, but they could just as easily be about finding what we have when it arrives.