A Thousand Ways This Image Could Help to Save a Life

“What are you staring at!?” A baby orangutan peeks out from his mother's embrace. (Photo by Chin Boon Leng/2014 Sony World Photography Awards)

“What are you staring at!?” A baby orangutan peeks out from his mother's embrace. (Photo by Chin Boon Leng/2014 Sony World Photography Awards)

When you see an image of an animal  and you take a second look could it be that your heart strings are pulled? Just a little bit? Scientists have proven that when an image catches your eye you don't just see it but all kinds of chemical reactions happen inside your body and your brain returns to that image as a reference - possibly to take action on what you have seen, what do you think?

People have always been visual, since the beginning of humanity people have used images to convey every day experiences. The Cave paintings in France are an example of a people wishing to compare and share their interpretations  of nature and animals with those who were eye witnesses and for those who would come behind - an image is everlasting. 

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A dog saves a man's life and an insurance company wants to separate the hero from the saved - why doesn't this image say enough about why  these two should stay together? Exercise: Imagine a friend or family member ( on two and four legs ) now can you see the importance of keeping these two together?

One thousand images can hurt the relationship between animals and nature too. Organized Dog Fighting for example has taken advantage of social networking, smart phone technology and the internet  to go deep underground  -  images which most of us can not imagine help to sell tickets to these generational blood sport events - you can help be proactive in the virtual  world too help send  people who  are involved in dog fighting where they belong  in prison for the mentally insane!

An Image can change the way we live with other living beings. Take for example those instances where we glimpse the quiet heroism of animals helping animals. This world class education is to be charished even by the ignorant because it is a window into the natural world, behavior which is still being debated - why? Because many human beings do not want to believe that animals help each other without expectation of reward - unheard of in some human circles!

Stories of animals helping people, people helping animals and animals helping animals bring the point home: humility, compassion, loyalty and friendship are not characteristics which are propriety to human behavior. Organizations such as ours with our magazine Animal Imagery and other non profits such as Heart Speak propel the saying - an image is worth a thousand words beyond the frame toward advocacy and action in behalf of animals. Do you have an image which you believe could impact the way humans interact with non humans? Go for it - enter here - good luck:)