A Face in the Crowd

Nobody does the face-in-the-crowd to comedic effect better, I think, than Monty Python, especially in Life of Brian.  Photobombing, “to drop into a photo unexpectedly, to hop into a picture right before it’s taken” Urban Dictionary, intentionally seeks a Python-esque moment, usually, I suspect, with less success and much more irritation on the part of those who had a very different picture in mind than Python.

But seeing the cat and dog photobomb got me to wondering what famous scenes or pictures do I wish I had been a part of, even as a mere face in the crowd?

This being January, Dr. King’s I have a dream speech on the Mall in Washington, D. C. comes to mind, as does Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount.  I have no Forrest-Gump desire to have been at the center of the action, so I guess I’m not really a photobomber at heart.  But I would have liked merely to have been there, to hear with my own ears, see with my own eyes.

I would liked to have been part of the crowd when some important decisions were made, like the decision for the United States to invade Iraq.  Well, ‘like’ is actually the wrong word; I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t have ‘liked’ any part of that experience, but for once, I would want to understand what people are thinking when they reach decisions that so dramatically affect so many people in such horrible ways.

I would have liked to be in the audience for the first performance of Shakespeare’s Henry V.  For that, I wouldn’t even mind not being in the group shot.