A Professional Dissappointment

This morning we went to SOME-- So Others Might Eat, a homeless resource and service center in the D.C. area. We originally went there to serve breakfast, but unfortunately due to timing constraints we didn't make it on time; instead we participated in a tour of the dining facility and were educated on the various services that SOME offers.

Walking through the dining hall, the director proudly pointed out an item framed on the wall. It was a picture of our president, Barak Obama, serving the homeless and volunteering. The director explained his delight that the president of our country had shown the homeless that he cared that day, and was very excited that he took time out of his busy schedule to volunteer.
It was great to look at people coming together to serve the greater good and people in need. Don't get me wrong, I was proud of Obama for reaching out. HOWEVER, looking at the photographs of him helping the homeless and shaking their hands, it was clear that these pictures were not taken with a Best Buy $100 digital camera: it was obvious that Obama was not alone (besides his usual security). This saddened me. I understand that there might have been the intention of taking professional photographs to get the word out and, after all, the president does deserve class, BUT, it made me a little frustrated to think of how our government probabbly published these pictures (while in an attempt to raise homelessness awareness) because they wanted to show the rest of the nation how much the government "cared" about the homeless. Having Obama's picture taken by a hired professional instead of a SOME director meant that the government has full copyrights for their publication, and therefore have the right to post them wherever they wanted in whatever context-- whether it be a shelter's website or the legislature's website.

Again, while the intentions were good and it was awesome to see the president reaching out to the unfortunate when he has the choice to turn away, it was a small dissappointment when I realized the source of the photographs.