Photo Essay: Sometimes You Just Have to Buy It Even If You Don't Need It

"Discretion is the better part of valor," to quote Shakespeare in my defense.... We stopped to see this gorge in the very rural mountains of Ethiopia, and these shepherd boys seemed to appear from nowhere. They charmed me somehow, and shyly offered to sell us their hats for only 20 birr--about $2.40. I could not walk away, and it wasn't that I felt pressured. It was that I WANTED one. I wanted them all; I wanted to do this simple gesture to alleviate their poverty for a day or two. I picked one with a brim and was told only men were supposed to wear them with a brim, but I didn't care. Is it useless back home? No. It sits on a high shelf in my family room with some other African baskets, and every time it catches my eye, I remember these boys who were so industrious near a gorge in rural Ethiopia. It is a consummately useful reminder of a stunning journey into poverty but also dignity and courage, and I am humbled each time I remember.