The World Wide Panorama

Introduction

The World Wide Panorama event of the second quarter of 2022 is a collection of panoramas with the common theme of “Humanity”.

Theme Essay: Humanity

The essay conveys the team’s idea of the event. It is usually published together with the Theme announcement and offers a starting point for the contributing photographers.

Humanity

Photography & Uploading: April 1 - June 30, 2022

As a first approach, let's have a look at the Cambridge Dictionary entrance for Humanity:

• people in general
• all people in the world as a whole, or the qualities characteristic of people
• understanding and kindness towards other people
• the condition of being human

That was the easy part. But writing this short text on humanity is not all that easy. During the last decades after World War II many of us were thinking, that mankind was on its way to ever-increasing humanity. We believed that, finally, compassion and reason were governing human minds and actions. In Europe and in the US we failed to see so many wars and crimes against humanity in the world. For the Europeans, the war on the Balkan came as a first major shock. War, crimes of war, atrocities of war in Europe, former neighbours killing each other - how could this be possible? It was so utterly against humanity, against reason.

And now the war in Ukraine - it is a WAR, not a special military operation - is showing us once again, how greed, lust for power, inhumanity are imposed on a peaceful nation. To be precise: War is imposed on two nations! Both Ukrainian and Russian mothers are mourning their dead children, who have lost their lives in a war started by an inhumanely acting human being.

And humanity? The philosophical and religious foundations of the Western culture - Judaism, Christianity, Greek Stoa, Enlightenment, Humanism, ... - they all teach us, that we should be on a way of becoming ever more human. Our quest is, to develop to the full potential of humanity. And in many Eastern Religions and Philosophy the way towards being a true human being - leaving animalistic straits behind - is a strong concept.

So for this event we are asking you to find a motive, that brings an association to humanity into your mind. And we ask you to share your thoughts on that motive.

For me, there is a quote by Hillel that accompanies me on the way towards humanity:

“If I am not for myself, who will be for me? If I am only for myself, what am I? And if not now, when?”