“All the wrong people remember Vietnam. I think all the people who remember it should forget it, and all the people who forgot it should remember it.” -Michael Herr
This quote made a profound impression on me when I first read it. I was born 4 years after the fall of Saigon, which ended my country’s involvement in Vietnam. I have no ties to Vietnam. No one in my family fought in the war. It was always a distant thought that only came up during history classes in school. Those very same classes that instilled a disgust for all things communism and praised democratic societies.
I first met the Le family in California in 2006. I was invited into their home and their lives and was treated like their son. I would sit for hours listening to their legacy, their stories of fleeing a warring country and immigrating to a new land. I became engrossed and I had to see this country for myself.
When I finally moved to Vietnam, I arrived with a biased opinion. One that was American. Whether it was a misguided sense of patriotism or the loyalty to the Le family, I looked at
Vietnam as something I was not allowed to love. Yet as time progressed I found the lines of what I thought were “right” and “wrong” blur. I found that I, like most of the world, really did not understand Vietnam at all.
As the country continued to develop around me, I drew a parallel to my own transitions in life. And I found friendship in the sons and daughters of former North Vietnamese soldiers and that of South Vietnamese people who were once exiled. I realized that it doesn’t make the Le family wrong about their memories or views. Nor does it validate. I realized that war is hell and there are always consequences no matter what side you are on.
These consequences are still very real today. While Vietnam celebrates a push towards a developed country, a trail of collateral damage is left. The disparity between the rich and the poor grow larger every day. While some attempt to forget the years Vietnam was at war and move on, others are discovering its history for the first time. The country’s development is built on the backs of all those who fought on both sides of the war. We all walk in the footsteps of our ghosts.
