I was really embarrassed. And I asked why they took my picture when I was in such agony, and I'm the girl, in the moment that I was naked, burning, hopeless, crying - so ugly. And I asked why they took my picture at that that moment? I didn't like it at all.
Interpretation
The quote reflects the vulnerability and raw emotion of being captured in a moment of distress.
Phan Thi Kim Phuc expresses her discomfort with being photographed during a moment of extreme suffering, highlighting the pain and humiliation of her experience. This quote speaks to the broader themes of vulnerability and the way personal suffering can be interpreted or exploited by others, raising questions about the ethics of such portrayals in times of crisis.
In practice
In a discussion about the ethics of wartime photography, this quote illustrates the personal impact of being depicted in moments of agony.
I wished I died in that attack with my cousin, with my south Vietnamese soldiers. I wish I died at that time so I won't suffer like that anymore... it was so hard for me to carry all that burden with that hatred, with that anger and bitterness.
My name is Kim Phuc, though you likely know me by another name. It is one I never asked for, a name I have spent a lifetime trying to escape: 'Napalm Girl.'
People ask me a lot, 'How can you smile all the time?' I tell them, 'I was never angry. God created me this way. He created me laughing and smiling.'
I never thought that the child who was a famous symbol of war would one day be invited to become a symbol of peace.
My dream is that one day, all people will live without fear, in real peace, with no fighting and no hostility.
For years I bore the crippling weight of anger, bitterness and resentment toward those who caused my suffering. Yet as I look back over a spiritual journey that has spanned more than three decades, I realize the same bombs that caused so much pain and suffering also brought me to a place of great healing. Those bombs led me to Jesus Christ.
You got to fight them, Celie, she say. I can't do it for you. You got to fight them for yourself. I don't say nothing. I think bout Nettie, dead. She fight, she run away. What good it do? I don't fight, I stay where I'm told. But I'm alive.
Carry the battle to them. Don't let them bring it to you. Put them on the defensive and don't ever apologize for anything.
Whatever you fear most has no power - it is your fear that has the power. The thing itself cannot touch you. But if you allow your fear to seep into your mind and overtake your thoughts, it will rob you of your life.
What war has always been is a puberty ceremony. It's a very rough one, but you went away a boy and came back a man, maybe with an eye missing or whatever but godammit you were a man and people had to call you a man thereafter.
[Introverts,] the world needs you and it needs the things you carry. So I wish you the best of all possible journeys and the courage to speak softly.
The most mortifying infirmity in human nature, to feel in ourselves, or to contemplate in another, is perhaps cowardice.
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