Remembering Tiananmen Square
Every time Edgar Roberts reads about the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre, he sees the naive faces of impassioned young students.
“They were just acting like college kids, no threat to anyone,” he says. He knows. He was there, not on the day troops and tanks stormed the square, but the week before when hundreds of thousands of students sang and waved banners.
“I thought it was a wonderful thing,” says Edgar, who lives in Coeur d’Alene. “I was heartened by it, thought China was breaking out of its mold.”
Beijing was Edgar’s first stop on his last world tour. He’d twitched with wanderlust ever since he returned from three months in Algeria as a college student in 1930.
Each trip throughout his life added to his understanding of the world. Sadly, his last adventure exposed him to humanity’s ugliest side - and that’s the memory that lingers.
In 1939, Edgar’s taste for adventure led him to South America, where he supported himself as a musician for four months. Family needs brought him home, but World War II and the Army spirited him out of the country again, this time to Europe for three years.
After the war, life anchored Edgar in the Midwest until his retirement. He raised four children with his wife, opened a boys’ clothing store with his brother and yearned to see the rest of the world.
Retirement freed him to tour Europe. A few years later, at 77, Edgar took off for China and the just-dissolving Soviet Union. A student guide met him in Beijing.
The student protest was a month old when Edgar arrived. It had begun as a peaceful gathering to commemorate the death of a deposed official and evolved into a hunger strike that officials answered with martial law.
Edgar wandered freely around the crowded square during his five days in the city. His travel diary reminds him that he believed the atmosphere was festive. Children played and vendors sold food.
Nine days later, as Edgar ferried to Norway, he heard news of the bloody confrontation on the radio and his heart sank.
“I couldn’t quite comprehend it,” he says, the wisdom of his 86 years still unable to help him. He hasn’t traveled since 1989. “What if I had been there? That any country could do that and get away with it … I was appalled.”
Eh, what?
If the world’s sounds are muffled or so low-volume that you’re straining to hear, help yourself.
That’s what Self Help For the Hard of Hearing (SHHH) is all about.
SHHH is nonprofit and loyal to people who need help hearing better. The group stays up on all the latest technology, prices, vendors. It’s always worth checking with the local chapter of SHHH before investing in hearing equipment.
On June 20, the company that provides telephone service between deaf and hearing people, Hamilton Communications, will introduce the public to the newest hearing technology on the market.
The meeting starts at 9:30 a.m. in Kootenai Medical Center’s Classroom 1. Even if you don’t have hearing problems, go and listen. You’ll be amazed at what’s available. Call 772-3033 for details.
Bike into summer
North Idaho’s breathtaking scenery makes it great cycling territory, which Silver Valley Habitat for Humanity has wisely recognized. Habitat’s a nonprofit group that helps low-income working people build their own homes.
It’ll hold an 8- to 20-mile bike ride from Old Mission State Park along the Coeur d’Alene River to the Enaville Resort, aka Snakepit, June 20. This one requires mountain or hybrid bikes and helmets. Entry costs $15. Call 682-3814 for details.