An event twenty years ago tomorrow shaped my view of the world. The ill-named People’s Liberation Army massacred an indeterminate number of student protesters.
I’ll skip the long-winded reflections about why they were protesting and the change that they so desperately wanted to see. What sticks with me is that people my age or a little older believed in some of the same things I did and they were slaughtered for it. Their government chose to protect itself rather than them. This has been the single biggest reason I think as much as I do about the role of government in a society. It’s either for itself or for the betterment of its citizens. The rule of law helps, but it’s really one or the other when you get down to the essence of society.
Incidentally, June 1989 was also the month I graduated from high school. This event, live in my living room, added to my whole coming of age experience. It didn’t ruin the month, but it was a sobering aspect of the whole time for many of us.
B.
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