I didn’t see this picture’s worth on first glance.
A man is running while another cowers. What’s the urgency? A man in a nice shirt is riding his bike, watching the Tiananmen Square construction as he rides his way home from errands. There’s barely a thought on his mind as a group of tanks roll down the strip. Maybe it’s not the construction he’s looking at, but the man in the white shirt, black pants, carrying a plastic bag standing in the way of the tanks’ route.
We get the opportunity here to witness one of the most iconic images of the 20th century all over again, but more humanity built into it. We get to see the fear, the confusion of the moment, the common responses of common people. And, in the corner, not even in the focus of it at all, we see a man deciding to walk out, stop in the middle of a road, and take a stand for his beliefs and morals.
Pictures like this amaze me in such an intense way. I hope you find some appreciation in it as well.
http://lens.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/06/04/behind-the-scenes-a-new-angle-on-history/
