The Most Influential Picture in My Life:Cliche, perhaps, but out of all the iconic photographs in the world this one comes most easily to mind. It is all it is said to be - from a redefinition of bravery for the modern world to an empowering vindication of the strength of one man - but it is also very clearly a photograph. Without the element of truth, of 'it really happened' that is unique to photography, the image would lack its power. Its realness gives it depth beyond the message too; I often wonder when I look at this what 'Tank Man' was thinking. What was the lead tank driver thinking? What was said over the radio between the tanks and the soldiers' superiors? More importantly, what kind of conviction could compel a man to put himself in front of a line of tanks? I often find myself jealous, in a way, of that conviction - I feel that in our comfortable American lives we are nearly never tested, and I believe that the value of something is the sum of the trials you must undergo to obtain it.