Tiananmen Square

It's kind of weird that fairly recent ago I watched a special on the Travel Channel about traveling to China, and one of the places they highlighted was Tiananmen Square. The hostess mentioned for something along the lines of it being more open and welcoming to tourists in light of the increased tourism from the previous Olympics. She also went to say how it was simply incredible in it's sheer enormity. Never once did they mention that this very Square had been filled with civilians that were mercilessly gunned down by the country's own government.

Truthfully I'd never heard of the incident before the video, so watching it was quite a shock to me. Sometimes I think it is very easy to simply forget (which maybe or may not be to strong a word) that there places in this world, and no matter how modern or sophisticated it may appear there still exists governments and institutions with absolute rule that forbid the freedom of speech. And there exists places where when the rule is questioned the consequences are so severe and horrifyingly merciless.

The outward courage of the "Tank Man" is just mind-boggling. I don't think I could EVER gather the nerve to stand before on-coming heavy artillery tanks. However, the image of the "Tank Man" makes me have more faith in the strength of the individual, the fact that the "Tank Man" appears to be an average civilian who was pushed beyond his breaking point and in turn became completely fearless. I think it makes a point to say that anyone has the ability to stand up to a daunting and seemingly indomitable opponent.