February 1, 2003 Over the past years, I have taken pictures of people, especially women, who are living close to death. I visited many parts of the world plagued by conflicts, disasters and other kinds of extreme crises. At these places of suffering, I found that ordinary women were providing spiritual support to people around them with their comforting smiles, embracing love toward their families and almost-manly emotional toughness. They were, in other words, the backbone of their societies. Since 2002, I have mainly focused on the post-Taliban Afghanistan. During the Taliban era, women were forced to wear burqas and prohibited from working or attending school. An entirely new era, however, arrived with the end of the regime. Afghan women, liberated from the various shackles that had bound them for so long, started moving forward with a newfound hope of a better future. Some have become breadwinning mothers in place of their husbands who had been killed in the civil war and others have returned to work in pursuit of career goals. They are an epitome of the rapidly and dramatically changing Afghanistan. On the other hand, there is no denying that life is as hard as ever for many Afghan people. I encountered a number of female beggars on the streets who extended their thin arms toward me for money. I admire these people who never give up on life under whatever circumstances. Strangely enough, they are more energetic than we are and their eyes are brighter than ours. They even look more human. Having been through life-or-death situations, they may understand the preciousness of life better and cherish it more. Although people who take peace for granted tend to forget it, I think it is important to always be hopeful and forward-looking in life, whatever hardships come your way.