Napalm and Forgiveness

I had seen the picture before. A Google search of "Vietnam War" popped it up. I looked at it briefly and looked away. It's hard to look at. The terror and the pain on the child's face is unbearable. I couldn't bring myself to think about what had happened to the little girl. I just quickly clicked on to the next picture. I don't even remember why I did the search or what the next picture was, but I remembered the picture. I stored it away in my mind under "what humans do to other humans".

Today on my way home the segment on NPR "This I Believe" came on. The announcer said that she was the subject of one of the most memorable pictures of the Vietnam war. Kim Phuc was the little girl in the picture and she was still alive, now 45 years old (only 6 years older than me) and living in Canada. I cried. She had lived after that horrific day.

She read her essay for the show. She read about the day when she saw the planes drop the napalm bombs on her village and her clothes were burned off her. She read about the years after, her recovery, and her hatred "as high as a mountain". But 10 years after that day of horror, she read about accepting Jesus Christ as her savior. She read how she learned forgiveness through her religion.

"Napalm is very powerful but faith, forgiveness and love are much more powerful." she read.

I know now what happened to the girl in the picture. She is very much alive. Despite the continuing difficulties and pain, she continues to do more than survive. She lives. And I cry.