29 Photos That Put All Of Our Struggles In Perspective

29 Photos That Put All Of Our Struggles In Perspective

Life can flutter between being terrible and terrific, but sometimes everything can all be proven worth it in just a sliver of time captured on camera.

The Internet has a history of rounding up powerful photographs, but some images just go one step further and change your perspective on life and the challenges presented by the world we live in. All of these photographs may be once in a lifetime shots, but the tragedies and triumphs they document are those millions around the world face every day. We have an ugly and beautiful home, and it's entirely worth fighting for.

Warning: Some of the photos below are graphic.

Proposed spending cuts for the Spanish region of Catalonia in 2013 caused this fight to break out in Barcelona between riot police and firefighters afraid they or other public employees may lose their jobs.

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During the 2011 Vegetarian Festival in Phuket, Thailand, attendees performed various body piercings to rid themselves of evil spirits, as well as bring luck to their community.

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This photo was taken moments before the Indian child dove into the overflowing Ganges River as it flooded the region during the country's monsoon season in August of 2013. Thousands were left dead or missing in what was only the very beginning of this particular monsoon season.

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A mud volcano erupted in Indonesia's eastern Java Island in 2006, destroying 12 villages. Excessive gas drilling from the Lapindo Baratas drilling company was blamed. In 2013, these villagers covered themselves in mud to dramatize the destruction of their homes and the ongoing struggle that has ensued.

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A 2013 gay pride rally taking place in St. Petersburg was declared illegal under Russian law for being "gay propaganda," before turning bloody as activists and Russian nationalists clashed. About 40 gay rights supporters made up the rally, while they were surrounded by people throwing rocks, eggs and fists.

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This is an orphaned child in the wake of the Haitian earthquake of 2010. Following the devastation, adoptions of orphaned Haitian children were taken on as a relief effort by multiple countries, including the United States.

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John Fahy Jr. mourns his father and younger brother in 1996, just two months after his mother died of cancer. He was 13 years old. John Fahy and his 6-year-old son, James, were killed by a house fire in which John Jr. and his sister, Meaghan, were the only ones rescued.

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A Palestinian family's home in East Jerusalem was demolished in 2013 by the state municipality for not having proper safety permits. The family claimed they were still waiting for the permits to arrive.

The Japanese earthquake of 2011 inflicted a death toll over 15,000 and left much of the country devastated. Nearly 10,000 more people were either injured or labeled missing.

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In 2010, an Iraqi Emergency Response Brigade member searched the family house of this Iraqi child while looking for his father, who had an active arrest warrant. The father was suspected of planting IEDs in Baghdad, Iraq.

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While protesting the expansion of the Jewish settlement of Halamish into the West Bank in late 2012, a Palestinian girl raised her fist to punch this Israeli soldier.

Protests led by students opposing the Chilean educational system in 2011 ended up taking a violent turn as protesters and riot police clashed often.

A Chinese paramilitary police recruit being shipped to start his service in the Zhejiang province began to tear up in this photo, taken on Dec. 12, 2010.

The head of Gay Forum of Ukraine, Svyatoslav Sheremet, was beaten up in 2012 while on his way to announce that a pride parade was being cancelled.

During a public protest on March 11, 2011 in Niterói, Brazil, a cop named Captain Bruno Schorcht discharged his pepper-spray onto a small girl.

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30 years after the Vietnam War, many families in more remote villages are still suffering from the effects of the toxic nerve gas dioxin used in Agent Orange. Both of these younger men, pictured here in 2011, are in their twenties and have been suffering with physical and emotional trauma since birth.

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During massive floods taking place in Cuttack City, India, in 2011, a heroic villager saved numerous stray cats by carrying them with a basket balanced on his head.

This photograph, taken in 1967, shows an anti-war protester sticking carnations into the rifle barrels of soldiers protecting the Pentagon.

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In Ban Khok, Thailand every household is required to live with a Royal Cobra. Being able to tame the venomous snake is considered a highly respected talent. This photo, taken in April 2010, shows Mr. Vukjow Mare and his cobra.

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The Space Shuttle Enterprise flew over Manhattan in 2012, on its way to New York City to become a part of the Intrepid Sea, Air, and Space Museum as a special exhibit. Although slightly damaged during Hurricane Sandy, the shuttle has reopened to visitors.

In China's Wolong Nature Reserve, panda cubs are released in a highly delicate maneuver where employees wear panda costumes to minimize human interaction.

The VA hospital in Des Moines, Iowa provides various healthcare services to veterans, many of them requiring special needs.

Attendees of the 2012 New York Fashion Week posed for an extremely poorly located picture outside of Moynihan Station.

Kevin Berthia was talked out of jumping off the Golden Gate Bridge by this police officer in 2005. He has since become an advocate for suicide prevention and has started a family.

Radio broadcasts have reached out from the world to about a diameter of 200 lightyears, seen to scale in the Milky Way Galaxy above. According to Carl Sagan's science fiction novel, "Contact," Hitler's speech at the Nuremburg rallies might have been the first radio signal strong enough to be ever be picked up by aliens.

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Rosemary McDermott and her husband, Anthony Minor, discovered that their family records had survived the Hurricane Sandy devastation of Breezy Point, Queens in late 2012.

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Five-year-old Sahil Saeed is reunited with his mother and father after being kidnapped by gunmen in Pakistan in 2010.

Alex Honnold is an America rock climber who often goes without any safety ropes to catch him if he makes a mistake and falls. The photo above shows him in the middle of a solo free climb of Half Dome in Yosemite National Park in California.

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The highest jump of all time is started by Felix Baumgartner in late 2012. In the 127,851 feet, Baumgartner exceeded the speed of sound.

Correction: An earlier version of this story incorrectly identified the subject of the 24th photograph. The man's name is Kevin Berthia.

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