Daring to note two anniversaries this week...

[dewline]

...the 30th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square Massacre of pro-democracy protesters and activists by troops of the mainland Chinese army...

...and the 75th anniversary of the D-Day landings in Normandy, France.

Both events matter to human history for very different reasons. And yet, one reason unites them: human rights.

We must neither forget, nor be taught that remembering is toxic to social harmony.

Comments

[thewayne]

I was listening to a Fresh Air interview with a Chinese writer who wrote a biography about the two original "Siamese Twins" from the 1820s. As it happens, he was a medical student during the Tiananmen Square protests, and would have been their when they reached their peak and the army attacked except his parents sent him a telegram saying his mom was very sick. He went home, a process that took some three days, only to find her well. Meanwhile, the protest peaked and the massacre happened.

He was very conflicted about not being there as several people that he knew were killed.

[dewline]

I can well imagine that conflict in his heart.