This painting represents what was probably the lowest point in my life.  My family was in Ethiopia from 1984 to 1986, during the famine.  My parents worked in the relief camps, dispensing medicine and medical care.  Everywhere there was suffering, but in addition, there was an incredible disconnect within my family.  My parents used to pull inward when things were rough; it was their way of coping.  This behavior was magnified in Ethiopia, where they had no time for Joyce and I, except to continue our education.

Because my parents were in such a state, Zetta and Joyce were as well, and it made me angry.   It was a time in my life devoid of humor, beauty, affection, and any meaningful companionship, and besides, the suffering around me was all pervasive.  These are not easy things for a boy of 14 to have to experience.  I was angry with God and the world, and felt alienated from my family and from life in general.  It is fortunate that there were no addictive drugs in the refugee camps or I might have experimented with them (Well, there probably were, but I was too naive to know about them.).

My father’s closest friend, Richard Freund, was also in Ethiopia at that time.   Like us, he was involved in bringing food and medical aid to starving people.   The memories of the intense human tragedies he witnessed, haunted him for years.  He finally found an outlet for his emotions in art, and produced this painting of a group of destitute and starving people, making their way through a famine-blasted and dusty landscape, toward a relief camp.  He captures the despair and suffering that was ubiquitous at that time.   This work of art captures my own experience as well.

This dark time also influenced my writing, because in it, my characters have to confront the dark spaces that exist within them, which result partially from the injustices and suffering of the world around them, and partially from having to deal with their own personal demons.

Technorati Tags: despair, devoid of humor, dusty landscape, Ethiopia, hellish condition, intense human tragedy, lowest point in my life, made me angry, personal demons, rage, starving people

Tags: despair, devoid of humor, dusty landscape, Ethiopia, hellish condition, intense human tragedy, lowest point in my life, made me angry, personal demons, rage, starving people