Simon Family Vacation: The American War

Today was the first time I felt unwelcome in Vietnam. We went to the Cu Chi tunnels, which the Viet Cong used during the war to hide from the Americans. We then went to the War Remnants museum and the former Presidential Palace. The tunnels were pretty nifty. Six hundred people lived in these cramped tunnels. They had made them bigger to accommodate tourists, but they were still cramped. We also saw several traps that the Viet Cong had used. It was uncomfortable being there.

The war museum was worse. Although there was certainly propaganda--they talked about the South Vietnamese American puppets--it also showed the death and destruction done to the people by the war. I know some feel the war was justified and some do not, and I am not going to get into that. It really did make me feel embarrassed to be here. I asked our guide what percentage of Vietnamese people still hate the US, and she said that the culture has become much more westernized, and people accept us. To understand it, I think of how we view Japan or Germany. They are a valued part of our culture now, and very few people hold a grudge.

Nevertheless, the day left me exhausted emotionally, and the heat left me exhausted physically. I am ready to collapse and sleep for a week, and it is only 5:00. Rather than changing my views on war, I think today helped strengthen and define them. I feel that there is almost always a better solution than war. I am talking more generally than just the Vietnam war. I think that our not-a-war with the Muslim country of the day. Every time we go in and fight, we just make things worse. If we say we want to help the people, we should help them by giving them options other than the repression they are living in. Perhaps my statement will make people angry, and they will want to argue the point. I'm sure they can, because this is an idea, not a comprehensive plan, and I'm not nearly bright enough to make it into one. However, if we want to say that we are creating a safe place for people to live, then we should not be killing these people.

I debated removing the last paragraph, and I may still do so. However, for now I will leave it in, and leave you with a few pictures that I took before becoming embarrassed and depressed.

View from our hotel room. Look at the edge of the roof in the full sized image.

Woman making rice paper.

The Viet Cong made sandals out of old tires. They started wearing them backwards so they would leave tracks in the opposite direction from where they were going.