The Tank Man

Since last week New York Times is buzzing 20th anniversary of Tienanmen Square massacre. Various articles, photographs and old reports were getting published trying to shed more light on that tragic event. But any new material is so scarce thanks to absolutely tight control over this incidence by Chinese government that basic questions like how many people were killed and what happened to the ones who were caught are still largely unanswered. If it were the western world, scores of books would have been published by now along with handful of movies. Few universities would have tried to set-up a Chair on this incidence too. It’s a different matter that excessive attention paid in western world even on minute incidence usually ends up muddling the water same as excessive crackdown on any dissent that Chinese government enforces.

Coming back to the topic, I was thinking about the photo that encapsulated the whole event. A lone guy in white shirt with some sort of shopping bag in his hand standing firmly and calmly in front of fleet of tanks. The road, bereft of any life, looks ominous with only tanks moving certain direction, most probably towards the protesters. In one of the recent reports it is mentioned that soldiers were firing indiscriminately from the tanks but it is hard to see any soldiers on the tanks. Amidst this firing and people scurrying around for cover, our hero, the “Tank Man” as popularly known now, is standing serenely ready to welcome the fleet of tanks. It makes me wonder, philosophies, what must be going through his mind at that time. His action doesn’t seem like taken in haste. In one of most recent photograph taken from another angle, published in New York Times, there is a considerable distance between where he took his last stand and the approaching tanks. Basically, he had time to run away. He had time to think to about his future, which obviously was quite bleak at that point. He had time convince himself to run. But he didn’t! What prompted him to be so valiant? Did he believe his act would spare lives of innocents by stopping the menacing march of tanks towards the protesters?

We would probably never know.

The fact that Chinese decided to turn on military grade tanks on their own citizens confirms the magnitude of the protest and uneasiness of the government. Would they really stop for a lone guy with shopping bags in his hands? Or rather, stopped by a lone guy with shopping bags in his hands? They didn’t and rest is history. No one knows the fate of ‘tank man’. Some think he survived and still living in China. I highly doubt that. I mean we have an authoritarian government that hangs even juvenile convicts and it would be totally out of character for them to spare his life, specially, after killing thousands of his protesters comrades with ease. After such a gruesome slaughter killing the tank man would be merely adding to statistics.

The unfathomable courage he showed is so exceptional and surprising that majority would call him a mad-man. These cynics will further point out that his protest didn’t stop the carnage. True, but he showed us the power to take a stand. Whether it changes the reality is for later part. The most important thing is to act. He didn’t care if anyone was following him or not. He didn’t care about the consequences. He didn’t make any speeches or grandiose statements nor did he write any books. There is no way that anyone could stand up against military tanks and bullets. And yet he decided to show his strength by standing in front of them. He didn’t attack those tanks with grenades. He didn’t attack them at all. He just wanted to stop them. Perhaps, he thought that he can reason with the military personnel in the tanks because he did climb on the tank looking for someone to talk to and you can all most feel that he wanted them the tank operator to think about consequence of their act. What ever may be the reason; his act was in sheer desperation he showcased the enduring spirit of humans to fight for others; to look beyond individual interest and stand up for greater cause.

Somehow I believe he didn’t think this profoundly at all. Because one, there was probably no time to do so. But moreover, thinking so much can diminish the resolve. His act was instinctive but resolute. In any case when you are facing your death through barrel of the tank or in the bed, the only thing that remains is the debate with your soul.. You are answerable to your own self. Did you do what you were supposed to do? Are you satisfied with your actions? Were you true to your conscious? He had satisfactory answers for himself and with tank gun pointed at him, he set himself free.