I posted this photo just after the Taliban took control of Kabul in August 2021. In the copy for the post, I wrote that I couldn’t recall who took it but that someone had given it to me in Afghanistan in 2003. I’ve kept the photo all these years. In the post I said that in 2003 I thought of it as powerful and hopeful and that now I see it as chilling and heartbreaking. • Through the power of social media, I was able to re-connect with Alex Witte, the incredibly talented photographer who took the photo and gave it to me in Afghanistan. I thanked him for taking the photo and for sharing it with me so long ago. Alex also passed along some background on the photo. He took it just after September 11, 2001. He was one of six servicemembers selected to attend a year-long photojournalism course at Syracuse University. He was there in class when the nation was attacked. Alex told me that what strikes him about the photo is how everyone takes something different from it. A real flag is reflected in his subject’s eye. Other than removing all the color from the photo aside from the flag (swipe to see the original color version) it has not been digitally altered. • I’ve looked at this beautifully compelling and complex photo a lot over the past two decades. I will continue to return to it and reflect on it in the years ahead.