The Foreign Service Journal, June 2009

J U N E 2 0 0 9 / F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L 17 n the spring of 2008, after a 19-year absence, my husband and I took our two children to visit Beijing and see Tiananmen Square, during their spring break from Taipei American School. Jim and I had lived there from 1988 to 1991, when he was a political officer, but we had never been back. The ultra-modernity of the city, feverishly preparing to host the Summer Olympics, startled us. But what most sur- prised us was the sheer normality of Tiananmen Square. In the midst of the tourist traffic, I had a horrible fear that if F O C U S O N F S R E F L E C T I O N S L EST W E F ORGET O N THE 20 TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE T IANANMEN S QUARE MASSACRE , IT IS MORE IMPORTANT THAN EVER TO HONOR THOSE WHO DIED THERE FOR DEMOCRACY . B Y J OANNE G RADY H USKEY Pietari Posti I