02 Mar 46 Powerfully Moving Photos of Humanity

Warning: Some photos are graphic and should be viewed at reader’s risk.

A picture is worth a thousand words.

And these photographs are riveting, unforgettable and extraordinarily moving. They say a tremendous amount about the human condition – and some of the best and worst moments in human existence.

We should warn our readers that some of these images may be upsetting, while others may fill you with joy. But that’s precisely because these images reflect some of the best and worst parts of the human experience.

Whatever emotions they conjure up, it is our hope that these images will remind everyone that the world can always use a little more love, tolerance, and compassion.

 

Participants take part in a mass yoga class to mark the summer solstice on Times Square in New York, June 20. Yogis gathered on Times Square to celebrate the longest day of the year during the event which features four free mass yoga session at the heart of Manhattan.

Man embraces his girlfriend in the street after she is knocked down by police in a Vancouver riot.

Starving boy and missionary.

Heart surgeon after 23-hour-long (successful) heart transplant. His assistant is sleeping in the corner.

The patient not only survived the surgery, but outlived his doctor.

Terri Gurrola is reunited with her daughter after serving in Iraq for 7 months.

Soldier Kyle Hockenberry fulfills his promise

A 4-month-old baby girl in a pink bear suit is miraculously rescued from the rubble by soldiers after four days missing following the Japanese tsunami.

Anna Fisher, astronaut, with stars in her eyes on the cover of Life magazine in 1985. She was the first mother in space.

100,000 monks in prayer for a better world.

Violinist, Nancy Dinovo, cries while playing during a service at Christ Church Cathedral in downtown Vancouver for the September 11 victims.

A father’s note to his son.

The Graves of a Catholic woman and her Protestant husband, Holland, 1888.

8-year old leukemia patient gets final wish

A daughter spreading her joy for the world to share.

Diego Frazão Torquato, 12-year-old Brazilian playing the violin at his teacher’s funeral. The teacher had helped him escape poverty and violence through music

The famous “Falling Man” – Photograph of a man falling from the North Tower of the World Trade Center at 9:41:15 a.m. during the September 11 attacks in New York City.

A journalist dashes across a bridge to rescue a baby during Civil War. [1936]

Inside an Auschwitz gas chamber

A Rwandan boy left scarred after being liberated from a death camp.

“The Tank Man’s” lonely act of defiance against the Chinese regime in Tiananmen Square.

Agim Shala is passed through a barbed wire fence to his grandparents at a camp for refugees of the Kosovo War

Supporters celebrate as Minnesota legalizes gay marriage.

Soldier nurses kitten during Korean War

Earthrise from the Moon.

A Mursi tribe woman discovers Vogue magazine, Ethiopia.

Afghan man serves tea to a soldier.

Boy rescues his dog from a flood

American journalists Laura Ling and Euna Lee are finally reunited with their families five months after they were imprisoned in North Korea.

17-year-old Jan Rose Kasmir offers a flower to soldiers during the Pentagon anti-war protest in 1967.

A woman mourns the loss of her husband.

A child of the Erbore tribe, Ethiopia.

A Japanese man is reunited with his dog after a tsunami separated them.

Captain Donald Spindler pulls 6 year-old Aaliyah Frazier from a fire in Indiana.

New York City’s first legal gay marriage.

Window washers at Children’s Hospital dress as superheroes to bring joy little patients.

A daughter with her father, just moments before her wedding.