Burning

Summaries:
The self-burning of Mohamed Bouazizi: He set himself aflame with a bottle of gasoline after an indigenous woman cursed and beat him hard while confiscating his electronic weighing scales and slurring his deceased father. After Bouazizi went the the government about it, and their refusal to listen, his quote stated, 'If you don't see me, I'll burn myself.’ Tis’ exactly what happened at 11:30 a.m. local time in front of a local government building.

“The Burning Monk”: Hòa thượng Thích Quảng Đức, otherwise known as “The Burning Monk”,was a Vietnamese Mahayana Buddhist monk who burned himself to death at a busy Saigon road intersection on 11 June 1963. Thích Quảng Đức was protesting against the persecution of Buddhists by South Vietnam's Ngô Đình Diệm administration.

Comparison:

• They were both two completely different people who felt the need to kill themselves by burning themselves to let themselves go.
• They were both very displeased with something and nobody would listen or protest with them.
• Both of them threatened to do it to themselves, and did it in public.
• Both of these situations had to do with contacting various governments and being rejected by the public.
• They both died at 11:30 a.m. sharp.
• Both of them killed themselves because of protests due to various things.
• Both had thousands of people come to their funerals/ceremonies.

Contrast:

• Thích Quảng Đức died in the early 60’s while Bouazizi died in 2011.
• Thích Quảng Đức was angry because of the Buddah administrations, while Bouazizi was only angry at the woman and those who did not agree with him.
• Thích Quảng Đức was from Vietnam, located in Asia, and Bouazizi was from Tunisia, located in Africa.
• Thích Quảng Đức believed in Buddhism which was his main reason for his self-immolation, while Bouazizi killed himself because of something that had happened very suddenly.
• One died in front of a public road and the other died in front of a government building.
• They happened because of two very different scenarios.

My thoughts:
I feel like both scenarios were very important and devastating. Both of these two topics had a lot in common and some peculiar things that honestly stuck out. For the fact that both deaths happened at the exact same time is absolutely amazing to me. I feel like Bouazizi was insecure and throbbing for money just to be able to live, whereas I feel like “The Burning Monk” was okay economically to live, but had very intense feelings towards his religions. I feel like both are honestly important marks in history because of the happenings and grotesque of the self-murder. I feel like the MAIN thought in both of these peoples’ heads was suicide, a brutal thing, that comes down to not getting what you want.

Suicide Poem:
A Ballade of Suicide
G.K. Chesterton

The gallows in my garden, people say,
Is new and neat and adequately tall;
I tie the noose on in a knowing way
As one that knots his necktie for a ball;
But just as all the neighbours on the wall
Are drawing a long breath to shout "Hurray!"
The strangest whim has seized me. . . After all
I think I will not hang myself to-day.

To-morrow is the time I get my pay
My uncle's sword is hanging in the hall
I see a little cloud all pink and grey
Perhaps the rector's mother will NOT call
I fancy that I heard from Mr. Gall
That mushrooms could be cooked another way
I never read the works of Juvenal
I think I will not hang myself to-day.

The world will have another washing-day;
The decadents decay; the pedants pall;
And H.G. Wells has found that children play,
And Bernard Shaw discovered that they squall;
Rationalists are growing rational
And through thick woods one finds a stream astray,
So secret that the very sky seems small
I think I will not hang myself to-day.


My question is: Why isn’t there a law in these countries to prevent this from happening, this is obviously a big point... (self-murder), and why doesn’t anybody do anything to create some form of “help”?