June 4th 1989 Remembered

20 years later and the Chinese government still refuses to release the number of those its army murdered on Tiananmen Square.
20 years later and mothers of the dead are prevented from leaving their homes for a candlelight vigil.
20 years later and the same party rules over the same country.
20 years later and the people are still fighting for freedom of thought and expression.
20 years later and the people still wait for democracy and the freedom that they were promised.
20 years later and that famous photograph, the one on top, still gives me goosebumps.
20 years later and China is rich and powerful.
20 years later and nothing has changed... except the money.

In 1989 there was global outrage at the massacre, the international media was talking about it for days. I was only a 10 but I remember it very well. I remember the footage, I remember getting angry and not understanding why.

I'm a man now, 20 years later, with lots of knowledge and a much greater understanding of the world... but this massacre, the fact that China won't acknowledge it and the fact that the rest of the world just forgets it happened because everyone wants China's billion person plus market: that is and I hope will always be, beyond my comprehension.

My heart goes out to the families of those who lost their loved ones that day. My heart also goes out to the people of China who still live under this oppressive regime. My heart goes out also, to those in China who still believe that a better future is possible without change, because one day they will also walk blindly into a park and be trampled by an army hell bent on the status quo.

Muchacho Enfermo