A Change of Guard

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Tuesday 14 April 2015

Vietnam, Then and Now

Ann Medlock - Huffington Post 04/13/2015
Founder, Giraffe Heroes Project

A few weeks ago I was in Vietnam for the first time in 54 years, seeing Saigon and Hue again, Hanoi and Ha Long Bay for the first time.
2015-04-12-1428809706-9240703-SmallredFlags.jpg

"Are you stunned, Ho Chi Minh, that the inborn entrepreneurial spirit of your people is fueling private commerce in 2015? "

It's a country we "lost" 40 years ago, in April of 1975. There are commemorations and announcements everywhere now, celebrating the "reunification" of North and South Vietnam. The red hammer-and-sickle flag flies from doorways, balconies and trees, north and south.
Looking into the young faces of Vietnam 2015, hearing their questions about the time when I lived in their country, before they were born, before their parents were born, I kept seeing faces from long ago, all but one of them dead now.
If you're old enough to remember the Domino Theory, you know that Eisenhower, Dulles, Kennedy, McNamara, Johnson, Kissinger, Nixon -- one after another, U.S. leaders told us that if another Asian nation took up "Godless communism" all the others would also go red. We had to send troops against our evil nemesis Ho Chi Minh, the anti-colonialist president of the North, or see all of Asia populated by oppressed automatons in gray jumpsuits, mouthing Maoisms rather than prayers, owning nothing, mindlessly obeying State orders, hating Americans, and ready to storm across the Pacific and do us in.
Since returning from that look at the new Vietnam, I've been having a dream that I can, Dickens-style, appear to those long-ago statesmen and be their Ghost of Times To Come. Ho Chi Minh has to come along too, to see what's become of the country he led to victory.
Alright, gentlemen, here we go.

First, it's beautiful, isn't it? A blessing from Mother Nature that the blasted, poisoned trees have regrown; a kudo to hard-working people that the buildings and roads have been rebuilt, restored.
Look at the young of this country, gentlemen, so many of them eager to do business with the world, curious and courteous to the many graying Americans coming back to see the places they fought when they were young. Young Vietnamese know nothing of the war, only that bad things happened. They cannot tell you what became of people you may have known here. It was long ago, and only the old have memories.
Do you see that there are multi-national corporate logos everywhere, and ebullient mini-enterprises in every direction? See those farmers whose fields circle the cities? They each own their land and the produce they grow on it. Look at all the old farmhouses with new rooms added on, look at the new mopeds parked at the doors. Farm families are buying these things, from their profits.
See the people streaming into pagodas, bringing flowers and their prayers for a prosperous year? In every city, there are also churches filled for Christian services.
Are you wondering what's going on, gentlemen? What could possibly have happened to create this world so different from the one you were so sure would follow our defeat?
Are you stunned, Ho Chi Minh, that the inborn entrepreneurial spirit of your people is fueling private commerce in 2015? The government -- the communist government -- officially sanctioned private ownership of businesses and farms almost 30 years ago. Are you appalled by seeing the main drag of Ho Chi Minh City lined with sleek stores selling ultra-luxury goods from decadent Europe? Hammers and sickles on the trees and balconies, "Prada" and "Bottega Veneta" on the shop windows. Listen to this young Vietnamese entrepreneur saying, "Those anti-business ideas just don't work for us."
Neither does the "Godless" part, gentlemen. The deep human instinct to seek God was not stopped by the communist victory. Suppressed for a while, but not erased. Just look at those bustling pagodas and churches, and tell me your thoughts.
Ike, Jack, Lyndon, Dick -- all of you, and your so-certain, brilliant advisors, look at Vietnam long after all the young fighters' lives cut short, the civilians killed, maimed, displaced, the suffering of every human who loved them and survived in grief. Look now at a country where free enterprise and religion are not gone but flourishing.
What if you all go back to your times and just let human nature play out, understanding that the Vietnamese drive to prosper and to pray will prevail over an ideology that doesn't suit them? You Americans don't need to send troops and bombers, back there in your time, all those decades ago. Re-education, Ho Chi Minh? Imprisoning and indoctrinating your fellow citizens? Looks like it didn't work. I urge you all to take a re-do, and just stand down.
Yes, hindsight is 20/20. All those years ago, I wouldn't have believed the Vietnam that was to come either -- it would have taken time-travel to convince me. I just want to take these men with me, thinking they'd surely change course, if only...
I know, I know. Time-travel is just a dream. But if it could be done, who would you take from their time, into ours?
Collage by Susan Prescott. Flag photo by the author.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Ho= Asshole

Anonymous said...

Ho chi minh is the one who was a serial killer in south east asia and who was a devil made the human right abused kill a million people because his communist politician and robbed land from neighboring until today we count him as a devil.

Anonymous said...

Begin of Drgunzet's comment.

In Chinese culture, we have a superstition: "In the New Year days, if you talk nasty, you will be unlucky for the rest of the year."

I think Cambodia will be unlucky for the rest of the year. Or at least the Khmer who wrote nasty comments about Ho Chi Minh. You have been cursed.

-Drgunzet-

Anonymous said...

Mr. BragginZen, when is the US government going to blow up Hoover Dam as they did Twin Towers? Are the Americans expecting to get fried by some sort of nuclear blast in the near future to get rid of inferior people?

You must have inside knowledge of what next move the US government will do to incite fear on American people to bring them closer being animals they could herd around put in pens.

Any idea?

Gog

Anonymous said...

Begin of Drgunzet's comment.

"Mr. BragginZen, when is the US government going to blow up Hoover Dam as they did Twin Towers?"

I will not answer you question until you prove to me that US government actually blew up the Twin Towers. Your trick imply-question will not work with me.

I am happy that the US government has been deporting hundred and hundred of Khmer Americans back to Cambodia.

-Drgunzet-

P.S. When I took the US citizen test, I was asked with one question, "Who was the president of United States during the American civil war."

The way I answered the question astonished the interviewer so much, he asked no more question, "The country needs more good citizen like you."

Anonymous said...

@15 April 2015 5:20 am

Without Ho Chi Minh and the other you won't even have a country to call home

#comcomWF

Anonymous said...

Begin of Drgunzet's comment.

Watch this clip, at 2 minutes and 50 seconds in to the clip, you can see the South Vietnamese prisoners got tired with their hands raised up. One North Vietnamese commander smiled and signaled them to drop their hands to rest.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J3gYJOO8hLo

Watch the whole clip and see the vast difference between the North Vietnamese taking over Saigon in 1975 as compare to the Khmer Rouge taking over Phnom Penh in 1975. That's the difference between the two races.

Admit it, your race is sick and murderous. Vietnamese people recently has produced multiple World Chess Champions in different categories as well as Champions in Europe and Asia. Vietnam students won so many International competitions gold medals, first prizes, perfect scores...

Last year Cambodia only could produced 12 students with grade As. The rest mostly flunked the national exam. I used to tutor Khmer students and oh my God, they were so stupid.

-Drgunzet-

Anonymous said...

-Drgunzet- and #comcomWF are a married dog eating couple having very bad mouths with a full of innocent dog meat. These two dog eating posters should be caught and tied before tossing into to angry dogs to bite them back. LOL