Reflections on the Road: Hands that Shape the World

Early this summer I anticipate the publication of my book 30 Reasons to Travel: Photographs and Reflections from Southeast Asia.  The book, which explores some of the deeper reasons to travel, aims to take the reader on a mental and visual journey not only to Southeast Asia but also into our very "humanness." 

I'll share more about the book once it is released, but for now allow me to offer a brief excerpt.  The excerpt comes from "reason" number ten -- Hands.  Following the excerpt are 17 photographs.

Once, upon reaching the second floor of a museum in the Black Sea port of Batumi (located in the former Soviet republic of Georgia), a painting depicting a young woman holding a letter immediately grabbed my attention.  The image brought to mind the richness of communication done well, the absolute treasure of the written word and friendship, and the value of crafting a thought, a challenge, or an encouragement meant for another.  For some time I looked at the painting, particularly at the woman's hands.  The heart may be the center of our being, but the hands are not peripheral.

My mind began to wander backwards.  I remembered the Vietnamese farmer holding his rice shoots, the Sumatran peanut seller tapping ash off his cigarette, the Indian bus driver honking his horn.  I remembered the man in a Malaysian mall wiping tears from his girlfriend's face, the mother in a Tibetan town stroking her infant's head, and the Nepalese girl who put her hands on mine when she saw I was feeling down. 

The history of one's hands form a complicated story -- all they've touched, held, and written, what they've protected and what they've harmed -- and at times, as I consider my own hands, their very existence is somewhat of a mystery.  What is it that guides their movement?  Our hands do not act randomly and they do not have a will of their own, so what is it?  What is it that made the hands of Mother Teresa move toward lepers, toward those bedridden with AIDS, toward "the least of these?"  What is it that led Lincoln's hand to write the Gettysburg Address, Michelangelo's hands to sculpt David, or Khrushchev's hand to whack his shoe against a U.N. podium?  We take our hands for granted, but their simplest movements shape the world.

 
A hand that has seen a lot (Hue, Vietnam)

A man holds a burning cigarette outside a wholesale shop (Hanoi, Vietnam)

A Palestinian woman on the Mount of Olives pours coffee for her guests (Jerusalem)

 A Palestinian grandfather guides his granddaughter on the Mount of Olives (Jerualem) 

 
A Vietnamese artist, holding a photograph of a woman in his left hand [out of view], draws her image with his right (Hanoi, Vietnam)

 
A Palestinian school girl concentrates on an assignment (Aboud, West Bank) 

 
A storekeeper rests her arms on the lower halves of two severed mannequins (Bangkok, Thailand)

 
A Hmong woman works on a cross-stitch which she'll later try to sell to tourists (Sapa, Vietnam)

 
Another Hmong woman shows her dye-stained hands (Sapa, Vietnam)

As part of a nonviolent protest, an Israeli Bedouin scatters seed on land the government recently confiscated from his tribe (Negev, Israel)

  

A Thai soldier stands guard at an intersection in the country's deep south, where violence has killed more than 3000 people in the past four years (Pattani, Thailand)

 
A Palestinian soldier stands guard outside the compound of President Abbas (Ramallah, West Bank)

 

Israeli soldiers keep an eye on demonstrators on a village's outskirts (Bil'in, West Bank)

 
A Muslim girl stands with her friends -- all wearing the same white and blue uniform -- on a bus (Penang, Malaysia)

 

A Bedouin faces Mecca as he begins to pray (the Negev, Israel)

 
A woman sorts fish at the market (Hoi An, Vietnam)

A Hindu girl's hands have years of shaping ahead of them. For now, she uses the to make a humorous photograph (Malacca, Malaysia)

		Joel Carillet, Gather Travel Correspondent
	Joel's column, "Reflections on the Road," is published every other Thursday to Gather Essentials: Travel. His articles, based on extensive travels in Asia and the Middle East, seek to shed light on humanity, both our own and that of others.   They aim not merely to entertain and inform but also to develop a sense of connection between the reader and the world. Joel's writing and photography have appeared in several publications, including the Kansas City Star, Christian Science Monitor, and The Best Travel Writing 2008.   Currently his agent is seeking a publisher for a book manuscript entitled Sixty-One Weeks: A Journey across Asia. If interested in purchasing photographic prints, check out jcarillet.imagekind.com. When not on the road, he happily calls Tennessee home. Keep up with Joel's article series by joining his network, or subscribing to his content.