A story of forgiveness-Vietnamese war photo subject speaks at Denison

[The Straight Story]

A story of forgiveness
Vietnamese war photo subject speaks at Denison
by DREW BRACKEN
Sentinel Correspondent

Kim Phuc could never have imagined the way her life would turn out. She was the small child on fire from napalm in 1972, seen in a newspaper photograph running naked down a Vietnamese road.

She came to Denison University Tuesday night to tell her incredible story of survival, and ultimately triumph, from the cruelties of the Vietnam War.

“I truly want to thank God to be here to share my story,” she told the mostly middle-aged and older audience at Slayter Auditorium in her presentation entitled “The Lessons of Life: Love, Hope, and Forgiveness.”

“I was in the wrong place at the wrong time,” she said. “But because of that I am sure I’m in the right place at the right time.”

Today Phuc is a UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador for Peace and she heads the Kim Foundation. But in 1972 she was a 9-year-old Vietnamese girl running down a road with her skin on fire. Her village of Trang Bang came under attack by planes that dropped napalm on an area where the North Vietnamese were infiltrating. Associated Press photographer Nick Ut captured the moment on film and won a Pulitzer Prize.



http://www.granvillesentinel.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070321/COMMUNITIES02/70321012/1052

[nadinbrzezinski]

1. Remember the Iraqi kid who lost four limbs

at the begining of this insanity? I sure hope he does the same in thirty to forty years, and has the same oportunity.

Peace to the peacemakers

[intheflow]

2. K&R. This quote from the article brought tears to my eyes:

“For many years that picture controlled me but then a wonderful thing happened. I learned I couldn’t escape it but I could learn to work with it. Now when you see that little girl, don’t see her as crying in pain, see her as crying out for peace.”
— Kim Phuc

Blessed are the peacemakers--no matter their beliefs.

[alphafemale]

3. The little girl in the fuzzy purple sweater, who's foot was blown off--

Lived too. Many people had assumed that was a dead child in that photo.

She looked so pale and limp.

But she lived.

[SnowGoose]

4. You don't know how happy it makes me to learn that.

I have wondered many times.

[alphafemale]

5. I've been trying to find the article about her again.

No success yet.

But she did live.