Several weeks ago, Philadelphia’s Mount Carmel Jewish Cemetery was struck at night during a wave of hate crimes and hate threats taking place across our country. While the main focus in recent months appears aimed at Jewish institutions, the breadth of activity really is much more widespread than that, with attacks against transgender women, African Americans, Hispanics, Muslims, Hindu Americans, Sikh Americans and others also taking place.

It seems intolerance is on the rise of late. However, such reprehensible behavior is not new in America; it really never goes away, just simmering below the surface only to rear its ugly head when triggered by a particular event or sentiment.

So far there is no evidence that the more than 100 toppled or broken headstones in the cemetery was a deliberate act of “anti-Semitism” or just a random act of vandalism by local teenagers. To me there really isn’t much of a distinction, as it involved a cowardly act of violence based on intolerance of those who are some way different.

As someone that deeply loves this country, I find the current wave disturbing on many levels. What can effectively be done to combat the current wave of hatred? Pronouncements by our elected leaders and action by law enforcement … perhaps.

What really encourages me are the generous acts of lovingkindness on the part of individual Americans, for whom such behavior has no place in their daily lives. I witnessed this firsthand when I visited Mount Carmel Cemetery to participate in cleanup activities. While most of the volunteers were Jewish, many were not! And funds to restore the cemetery, as well as the suburban St. Louis Jewish cemetery similarly attacked were quickly established by the American Muslim community.

Yes, it is the acts of individuals that will certainly move us away from the current darkness and these acts will manifest themselves in many large and small ways. This struck me during the cleanup and when I came back the following day to try to capture for myself the magnitude of what had happened that night. As I walked through the 5-acre cemetery I made some photographs of the sadness before me. Headstones toppled on one and other; some split in half. One thing stuck out of the chaos … a single headstone broken and toppled over. Onto the cold winter grass it cast a shadow of gloom and despair, but sitting on top of it was a shining piece of stone deliberately placed.

In the Jewish faith it is customary to leave a small stone on the grave as a sign to others that the grave has been visited. But perhaps more importantly, it enables the visitor the opportunity to honor the deceased’s life and memory.   Someone … who may or may not be Jewish took a moment and placed that small stone atop the fallen and broken headstone.

That small stone and the act of placing it there created a shadow of its own, but in this case, I choose to believe a shadow representing hope, that will only grow into something much bigger, if we stand up as individuals and Americans to perform the small but meaningful acts that will put hatred in this country back under the rock it came out from.

I’ve been telling my students to forget about what everyone else thinks they should be photographing or what they perceive is expected of them, believing this might yield a result their peers or others might think is good … or worse currently in vogue. It’s really not worth the effort or the heartache. Unfortunately most people you talk to about your photographs don’t really know what you care about … and they certainly don’t care about you personally.

The more I think about it, the gallery game is just that … a game. Even more so are the myriads of competitions, etc. Many who judge you could never make a truly compelling photographic statement. Just check out your local photo/art scene and see if you agree. That isn’t to say that galleries and other venues for photographic work are not important. They are and I have had my photographs shown in them (Truth in advertising: I currently have a show up at a local venue). But it’s not necessarily, nor should it be your photographic end game.

As I said in a previous entry, as time goes by I am becoming more and more convinced that the most important thing in our photographic lives is to satisfy ourselves … that we find subject matter that truly inspires us and then effectively translate what we envisioned in our minds eye to a fully realized finished product. That means something that is well seen and produced using good craft. If we don’t do that then what’s the point?

Of course others may not see or appreciate your vision, but so what? Assuming you are satisfied that you have done the best you can don’t get discouraged. If your work is finely produced, you truly believe in it, and perhaps most of all, it provides you with pride of accomplishment and a sense of fulfillment … then be your own dog! No one or nothing else matters.