"Well it's one, two, three, what're ya fightn for? Don't ask me, I don't give a damn the next stop is Viet Nam." How many of this blog's readers have even heard the tune sung by Country Joe and the Fish? That's what I wondered, as our bus sped past the U.S. Embassy in Saigon not far from my hotel. I craned my neck to glimpse over the high walls to see the building that was fixed in my memory in 1975, when the end of the war had come. Who reading this post remembers the ignominious scene or even knows of the helicopter hovering, dropping a rope, and hoisting Americans and a few South Vietnamese officials to safety? Our guide told us the original building was gone and a new one had been built. He spoke of it as a part of a new dynamic, prosperous Saigon, a vibrant capitalist Communist city of 10 million in a country of 85 million which had become a leader among the ever-growing economic powers of Southeast Asia. It was time to look forward.
Then we stopped and toured the opulent palace of the former South Vietnamese government. It is now a museum. After so many years, I reheard the strangely pronounced names of the cast of corrupt players who had lived there and who we saw on the nightly news and to whose cause we had sacrificed some our finest people. Ngo Dinh Diem and his wife, Madame Nu, Nguyen Van Thieu, Nguyen Cao Ky had governed and stratagized within its walls. Now I stood from its balcony almost 40 years later and looked across the courtyard and down the street toward the center of Saigon or what is now called also Ho Chi Minh City.
Being here has made me reflect on the past; about our star-crossed involvement in what was clearly a Civil War or about our failed attempt to preserve our economic interests from the onslaught based on the domino theory of creeping Communism. Since then, much water has flowed down the Mekong. The gut-wrenching events of that time affected countless lives and changed me fundamentally. Those war years marked the beginning when I questioned my society, my government and its values, my values and the direction of my life. Those tumultuous days spun me like a misguided rocket deep into a jungle where I landed and fizzled through the rest of my life. Nonetheless I had been a lucky survivor..
I feel like a Janus head here. I look back sadly at the past, but am also awestruck by the present vibrancy of this city which is modern, clean, smart, and so alive. Time has not only healed the wounds of war, it has produced amazing growth and a society of people preparing themselves vigorously for the challenges of the 21st century.
So as I turn into bed my first night here and listen the city sounds, I recall the rhythm and words of the second verse of the song... "and it's five, six, seven, open up dem pearly gates. Well, there ain't no time to wonder why. We're all gonna die." Many did before the war ended in 1975, and yet the peril to human life continues. We, like innocent villagers, are caught in the crossfire, when, as history shows, the powerful and greedy go unchecked.
In a place so associated in my past with turmoil and death, I feel safe, optimistic and happy. My Asian adventure has taken me through time to the present Viet Nam. Thousands of people younger than I speed past my window on humming motor bikes in the midst of their journey. Like the sturdy, small, manicured trees growing gracefully in white and blue porcelain pots which sit near the entry of many houses, life flourishes anew here, refined and lovely.
For those of you who don't know the Viet Nam War song "Feel Like I'm Fixing to Die" by Country Joe McDonald and the Fish or want to hear it again, Here is a link. I think you'll get a kick out of it.
Another great post and reflections on another time and another place. Hope you rest well.
ReplyDeleteThat was surreal. I clicked on the Country Joe link and got into the spirit of the song . . . "Come on Wall Street, don't be slow . . there's plenty of good money to be made. . . ." and thanks to Google's contextual ads, I had to watch this emotional bit of nostalgia through an ad that said, "Best Dividend Stocks." Next came another ad . . . about boosting testosterone. As you say in the post, it ain't over. It never will be, as far as I can tell based on some of this election's most ignorant statements. But it's heartwarming to hear how Vietnam and its citizens fare these days. As an optimist, I like to think that Peace and Freedom can still be achieved. Go, Country Joe!
ReplyDeleteI really can't add anything to what you said, Lee, as what you said is exactly what I would have said if I had had the chance and was as erudite as you are!
ReplyDeleteWhat a mess was the Vietnam war. Corruption everywhere, including the good ol' US of A. And it meant nothing. 58,000 of our people killed, many more wounded in body and soul; with wounds that would last a lifetime; and three million plus Vietnamese terrorized and dead.
It was for nothing! Nothing!
And now the hawks and neocons are trying to instigate another war with Iran. Their goddamn bloody hands never do get clean but they make a lot of money out of war.
It's all so sad. And if we lose this election, I truly fear for our country.
Meanwhile, enjoy your trip! :-)
This was a very hard post to read, and probably the hardest part of all were the two words "domino theory." There can't possibly be anything more dead and rotten than decades-old propaganda. Some of us saw through it at the time, but obviously not enough of us. And even if we did see through it we couldn't stop it, or we couldn't stop it soon enough. That was the really horrible thing.
ReplyDeleteI haven't listened to that Country Joe song in a long time, so I listened to it twice just now. That was actually the easy part, because I agree with it now even more than I did then. Hopefully there are enough people in this country who feel the same way to thwart the next bloody adventure of the warmongers.