...I wonder what he, she, it or they would think of the way we treat one another on this small blue spinning sphere we call earth....I do often feel like an alien to this planet when I witness what people are capable of doing to one another in anger, spite or frustration...Human beings can be a vile lot when they choose to be...Witness the terrible things people do to one another in an effort to control money, religion, property and all manner of other things...And all for what? To feel they are more powerful than the next person?Perhaps that the crux of the dilemma in our interactions with one another is that in the protection of long serving institutions and institutional thinking we forget to continually craft new and emergent ideas... ones that can move us forward into a happier state of being...When I was a child my best friend was a little girl called Vicki Berger and we used to go horse riding together. I would often stay at her place and I would welcome the courtesy, kindness and care that her family would show me when I was there. I was so proud to attend her Bath Mitzvah because she had studied so long to learn the Hebrew texts and even though I had no idea of the actual proceedings occurring on the day I remember having a fantastic time...It was a warm and generous celebration in the Jewish tradition and I felt lucky to be able to attend. My Catholic background was always so foreboding... frightening in fact... as I believed that if I even thought the wrong thing according to the Bible then I was straight on my way to hell...Vicki's family and religious observances seemed quite the opposite in my eleven year old eyes...It was these early experiences that have left me with a long standing desire to understand more of the Jewish way of life. I had often considered visiting the Sydney Jewish Museum on Darlinghurst Road in Sydney but had been reluctant based on my own ideas of 'otherness'. Remembering that it was mainly Catholic sentiment that gave rise to the antisemitic policies of the Nazis and the cause of that stain on humanity known as the Holocaust, always made me feel that my presence could not possibly be welcomed in such a place.I finally overcame my reservations... after all, guilt is a deterrent to action... and I made my way there to view the Emmanuel Santos opus 'Observances' as part of the Head On Photo Festival. The exhibition, like my experience of meeting the Museums warm and welcoming CEO, Norman Seligman, was a revelation.Santos' work is a dissertation on the humaness of Jewish people. It neither deifies nor denigrates, but gently tells the story of a wandering tribe whose dwelling place is many and none at all...the great diaspora...but whose home lies firmly in the spirit and house of the heart and family...It is the compassionate and tender nature of this great photographers work that is outstanding.. to view his image of the Dalai Lama and Rabbi Wolf is to witness the stripping away of the illusion that divisions between people on religious grounds are acceptable...Santos shows us that these two leaders of their differing religious communities are also men of integrity and civility...I walked away with tears in my eyes..This is the work that all peoples on earth should see...so that we need not fear the 'other' and that we can travel a road towards reconciliation between the forces that would have us all disputing superiority and ownership...Sadly it was a reminder to me of the senselessness of politics and possession when I bid adieu to this experience and walked through the heavily reinforced doors of the Museum...Emmanuel Santos at the Sydney Jewish Museum until July 15th...