Monday 24 July, 2006.

this was one day where a 23 year old girl (my age almost) went to do what she did best - take photos. yet this girl, unlike many others, was not going to live out that day. Layal Nagib, a journalist that believed it her cause to “show”, “portray”, “present”, through her eyes and her lenses, she wanted people to “see”. this is the tragedy of human kind, the tragedy that leads to our death. Layal did not die by mistake… she died because this was her cause.

this young lebanese girl, who usually photographed in studios for a magazine, chose to go to the south. chose that her last picture would be one of a woman dead under the rubble.

was it worth it?

this is a question i ask myself everyday. if Layal had known her fate, would she have gone anyway? she had no experience, no financial need, and yet she went. she went and she made her last picture become a lost picture. a picture lost because the finger that pressed on that camera button will press no more.

yet, that last picture will be immortalized, and that last woman under the rubble will be immortalized. Layal did not keep her promise to her family, she did not go back home that day, but one day, one promise should and will be kept…

this is a promise that we should make for ourselves. a promise that every one of us will not take part in causing more death and destruction; this would allow another Layal to keep her promise.