The Dilemma Of Grief Part 3

Ocean tragedy, Boca Raton, Florida 1986

I apologize for this, but as I go back through a bunch of film that is over 20 years old, I'm feeling the need to work through some conflicts that go with these memories. The main premise, I first posted here, and also here, where I set out my main problem:

"Grief pictures shouldn't be made unless something good can come from it. That almost never happens. In this case, I was assigned to shoot everything, including invading this poor woman's home when her daughter was only dead two days. It's funny though, they always welcome you, and want to talk. I sat with one woman, (I had witnessed the recovery of her son ) , for an hour once, and she showed me his pictures, and told me all about what he was like. They sent me over there only a day after his death. She was still in shock."

The picture I posted above shows the friends of that boy, who was cavalier about diving in the ocean without a dive flag, and was tragically killed. This was the one case where I thought that some of my pictures might help prevent another tragedy just like it. I did what I was taught not to do, (as since I had no supervisor at the time), I edited the rescue effort and recovery pictures as more like a story, not allowing the above picture or overt grief to be the central object. I guess I "got away with it". This was the first time I had to deal with the violent death of children, while working, anyway. And I hadn't been at all prepared to go to his house the next day and face his mother.

The other half of the conflict remains: Do we withhold the grief and suffering of Genocide? Or of Oppression, or the plight of Tsunami victims?