Who wouldn’t want to be named Golden Happiness? That’s exactly what Kim Phuc means in her native language. This precious little 9-year-old, however, earned her photographer, Nick Ut, a Pulitzer Prize when he snapped a photo of her in 1972 as she ran from her Vietnamese village in great agony. Anyone who has ever seen the photo has likely never forgotten it, for her horrified face expressed the pain from the napalm that had burned off all her clothes and left third degree burns in their place.
After taking the quick picture, Nick and his fellow journalists gave her some water and took her to a hospital. When they visited the next day, the nurse told them she would certainly die within 24-48 hours. Not satisfied, they pressed until she was transferred to a Saigon hospital where she could get more specialized care. Over a year and 17 surgeries later, the young girl miraculously returned home.
Sadly, this was not the end of Kim’s nightmare for the government regularly used her to drum up anti-American sentiment even though the war had long since ended. They would not allow her to pursue her medical interests and eventually destroyed not only her educational records, but also her family’s home and restaurant. Understandably, her golden happiness had disappeared into severe depression, and she found no solace in her religion which included communicating with the dead and other occult practices.
Thankfully, Kim began reading the New Testament in a local library and shortly thereafter started attending a church. In time, she accepted Jesus as her Savior and, as Chuck Colson says in his book, How Now Shall We Live?, Kim remarked, “It was the fire of the bomb that burned my body, and it was the skill of the doctor that mended my skin, but it took the power of God to heal my heart.”
Kim was eventually permitted to resume her studies in Cuba where she met her future husband. After six years of dating, they were married and flew to Moscow for a communist honeymoon. On their way back to Cuba, however, they defected in a Newfoundland airport when their plane refueled and eventually settled into a Vietnamese community in Toronto.
In 1996, 24 years after that horrid day in Vietnam, Kim was invited to speak on Veterans Day at The Wall in Washington, DC. After some military speakers, Kim addressed the gathered crowd. The famous Napalm Girl, as she became known, used the platform to advocate for peace and also to tell how God had saved her life and her soul. Incredibly, she offered forgiveness to all those in attendance and even to, “the pilot who dropped the bomb.” When she finished, the veterans gave her a standing ovation and expressed how helpful her genuine forgiveness was for their own emotional healing.
Before she left the venue, however, she got a note from the very man she mentioned. “The pilot who dropped the bomb” was present and wanted to meet with her if she was willing. With enormous courage and extravagant grace, she consented. When they met, she hugged him with the very arms his bomb had permanently scarred. Amidst many tears, the pilot apologized repeatedly to which Kim responded, “It is okay. I forgive. I forgive.”
Although Colson tells the story more completely and skillfully, this is a powerful example of obeying Jesus even when it’s very difficult. Although most of us have never been as badly hurt as was Kim Phuc, we’ve all been burned a few times. Will we follow Jesus’ teaching and the Napalm Girl’s example by extending forgiveness or will we hold onto our emotional and spiritual wounds, refusing God’s healing both for ourselves and others? I pray that with the Holy Spirit’s help, we can discover God’s golden happiness by obeying Jesus’ words from Kim’s favorite Bible verse, Luke 6:37, which says, “Forgive and you will be forgiven.” Blessings, George