Son My - may be disturbing
Trip Start
Feb 17, 2007
1
18
53
Trip End
Sep 06, 2008
Son My,
Vietnam
Friday, June 15, 2007
During a recent tour, I was in a museum owned and operated by the government. One of my passengers pointed out an interesting item for sale in the gift shop: old dog tags from American soldiers. Most likely they were fake. But the principle still bothered me. Vietnam has been eager to establish trade relations with the US to support its economic growth.
So I talked to the museum manager. Twice. Once with an employee who translated. A second time with my pocket dictionary. The end result: we had divergent views of (dis)respect.
As a tour leader, one of the things I try to educate my passengers on is accepting cultural differences. Some, like the cuisine, are easy. Others are not. But the fact is that I'm only a visitor in their country. It's simply not my place to tell them how to change their culture. So I got a taste of my own medicine.
Three days later I visited Son My. I met Ha Thi Quy, aged 81. She told how her husband and four of her five children were killed. And how she survived. All on the same day, 16 March 1968.
Quy spoke through an interpreter. Her voice was clear but still affected. She said she remembered it as clearly as yesterday. It was a very moving experience for me. Quy is a survivor of what is more commonly known as the My Lai Massacre. In short, it was a controversial attack that killed hundreds of civilians and spurred anti-war sentiment. My Lai translated: "Americans came."
It's funny how your perspective changes. There's many angles you can take on a story like this. But now the dog tags in the museum gift shop don't bother me anymore.
Next, Ninh Binh
Eric
