forgiveness freed her from hatred by sharon bard
Forgiveness Freed Her From Hatred
If you don’t recognize the name Phan Thi Kim Phuc, you
might remember the naked nine-year-old girl running
through the streets of Saigon in 1972, her body on fire
from a napalm bomb during what the Vietnamese called
the “American War.” This graphic image shown on
television screens worldwide may well have been pivotal
in changing the course of the war, as American sentiment
grew ever more disapproving of the U.S. involvement in
Southeast Asia.
Kim Phuc, also known as the Napalm girl, tried to beat the
flames from her clothing. That made the fire worse, so
she tore off her clothes, and part of her skin came off as
well. She had been sheltering with other civilians and
South Vietnamese soldiers in a Buddhist temple when the
attack occurred. “I turned my head and saw the airplanes,
and four bombs landing down. Then, suddenly, there was
the fire everywhere, and my clothes were burned up by the
fire. At that moment I didn’t see anybody around me, just
fire. I will never forget that moment. I was so terrified.”
Nick Ut was one of several photojournalists positioned
outside the village anticipating further conflict that day.
He saw Kim Phuc running down Route 1 highway
screaming, “Too hot! Too hot!’” He was 21 years old at
the time. He took the photo and seeing that her body was
badly burned, dropped his camera gear on the highway,
and rushed her and several other injured children to a
nearby hospital. “If she goes one more hour without
treatment she will die, and you will be in trouble,” heyelled. His dark room technician saw the powerful picture
and told him it would win a Pulitzer.
Kim Phuc spent fourteen months in hospitals being treated
for her injuries. Two of her cousins had been killed in the
bombing. She tried to move on from the attack and the
image that was seen around the world. “As a child, I was
embarrassed,” she said. “I didn’t like that picture at all.
Why did he take my picture? I never wanted to see it.”
She dreamed of being a doctor, but in 1982 Vietnam’s
communist government quickly removed her from
medical school to use her in propaganda campaigns.
Journalists traveled from overseas to hear her story, and
she struggled with the attention. “It really affected my
private life. I couldn’t go to school. I couldn’t fulfill my
dreams. I wanted to disappear.”
She was in constant pain and considered suicide, but
through faith and perseverance she began to embrace
forgiveness. In 1986, she was granted permission to
continue her studies in Cuba, where she learned Spanish
and was trained as a pharmacist. She reconnected with
Nick Ut for the first time in fourteen years in Havana, and
while in Cuba met another Vietnamese student whom she
married in 1992.
Kim Phuc was granted political asylum by Canada in
1992, after which she felt inspired to use her personal
tragedy for wider good. She wrote a book about her
experiences and established the Kim Foundation
International, a charity that provides aid to children of
war. She was named a United Nations Goodwill
Ambassador in 1997 and gave speeches around the world
about her life and the power of forgiveness. She has
received multiple honorary doctorates from various
universities in both the US and Canada, where she now
lives.
21Through her foundation she was involved in efforts to
secure medical treatment in Canada for Ali Abbas, who
had lost both arms in a rocket attack in Baghdad during
the Iraqi invasion. In 2022 she welcomed 236 Ukrainian
refugees with children aboard a special flight from
Warsaw to Regina, in an airplane displaying her iconic
1972 photo on its side.
“That picture has become a powerful gift for me. I can
use it to work for peace, because that picture has not let
me go,” she said. “Now I can look back and embrace it.”
“Forgiveness freed me from hatred. I still have many scars
on my body and severe pain most days. But my heart is
cleansed. Napalm is very powerful, but faith, forgiveness,
and love are much more powerful. We would not have warat all if everyone could learn how to live with true love,
hope, and forgiveness. If that little girl in the picture can
do it, ask yourself: Can you?
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