actions speak louder than words

A picture may not last forever, but a picture's impact certainly can. This particular picture produced immense shock value for the world, as it depicts the strongest form of self-expression and political and religious freedom.

On June 11, 1963 a Buddhist protest march was taking place on Saigon's Phan-Din-Phung Street. A car that was part of the procession of about 400 Buddhist monks and nuns suddenly stopped though, and 66 year old Thich Quang Duc, a monk himself, calmly got out of the car and sat in a meditative pose. The accompanying monks then began to pour gasoline all over the man. The old man withdrew a box of matches, lit one, was instantly engulfed in flames and burned to death moments after.

Malcolm Browne, the only western reporter present at the scene is responsible for photographing this jaw-dropping image. Browne would win the Pulitzer prize later that year for it as well. Apparently, Thich Quang Duc had written a series of letters to the government of South Vietnam and other Buddhist counterparts which explained his motives. In them he explained his need to voice his disapproval of the repressive regime that controlled the Vietnamese government. After viewing this image, JFK began taking strides to end American support of the Ngo Dinh Diem regime.

This provokes me to think about the unthinkable lengths that some people in the world are willing to go to just to gain their just freedoms in their societies. This Buddhist monk did not have to burn himself, yet it was a momentous sacrifice that drastically altered people's ways of thinking. The monk's voice would not be heard by his oppressive, over-powerful government, so instead of trying once again to have himself heard, he let his shocking actions speak for themselves, and thus, self-immolation was his solution.