We were tasked with reading the section on Vietnam from the
book Life is a trip by Judith Fein. We are recounted the story of a person who
was repulsed by the atrocities that had been committed in the Vietnam war, so
she traveled to Paris and then to Vietnam to see what had happened and to see
how they felt about the war (and Americans). To her conclusion the people from Vietnam were
very forgiving, as they said that it wasn’t their fault. They were forced into
the conflict; American and Vietnamese were forced to do whatever it took to
survive.
I clearly was not born for this devastating war, but hearing
and reading about the conflict you can understand the agony and suffering that
troops had to endure. It was a torturous mental game as they had to wait entire
nights under horrible conditions (rain, humidity, etc.) and fear of being
attacked at any moment. Guerrilla warfare meant that anybody could attack you
and you didn’t know who this person might be. Soldiers had to live with guilt
of killing innocent civilians as they didn’t know if they would kill them
(similar to conflicts in Iraq or Afghanistan were kids would be armed with
bombs). The mental devastation alone (aside from serious physical maiming that occurred
often due to grenades, traps, etc.) was a lot to bear for a person who was in
his late teens and probably drafted (against his will) to attend this hell. It
didn’t stop there, when they returned they also had to endure the scorn of
people who were against the war who criticized the soldiers for going to Vietnam.
To be fair, some went willingly because of their intense patriotism, but I believe
that most young soldiers that were drafted did not intend on going off to fight
this conflict; however, being put in the situation it was survival to the
fittest.
All in all, I believe that the Vietnamese soldiers were very
mature in attitude about the whole conflict, they knew that this wasn’t their
fault (Soldiers), but more of governments interests (resources, political ideals
etc.). They knew that resentment and hate, would not bring back lives, but
forgiveness would give new life and new meaning to theirs.
I remember when I was young my grandfather would tell me
about his army days (he fought in Korea and had various friends who fought in Vietnam).
He told me how he was very patriotic to his nation, but he never wished for
anybody to experience what was can do to a person. If he could rule out one
thing from American society it would be the militaristic approach to conflict,
as it did more self harm than good (PTSD, destruction of families, injuries,
etc.).
Click on picture above to see footage from the war
I also was not born when this war was going on so I, too, have no say in the amount of pain these people suffered but like you said it can be plainly seen when one reads their accounts of the things that happened. This is not limited to the soldiers but also the civilians which we can see in Fein's readings. My grandfather also fought in Korea and my Uncle fought in Desert Storm and Iraq and they both refused to talk about their experiences. It does weigh heavily on a person and I can see it in my Uncle. I do believe the Vietnamese took the better path when they chose forgiveness because in the end it makes you better person to let go than to hold on to hatred. It doesn't necessesarily mean to forget what happened, but to let yourself move on.
ReplyDeleteI agree, the Vietnamese were very mature and it takes great understanding to be able to forgive past enemies. The war sounded terrible and the people that partook in it must have suffered a lot. The good thing is that they learned to forgive and are looking for a better future a future of peace. I find that people that come back from the army are very changed and have a completely different view of life. It is true that neither side is at fault, at least their soldiers, some of them did not even know what the were fighting for to be manipulated and forced into war to fight for your life is a very cruel thing to do and that is why I am against war.
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