We are going to Vietnam - to Danang, Hue, and Hoi An - in a week. I am looking forward to having a holiday and eating new foods, learning about a new culture, being on a beach. However, I am a little nervous about this trip due to the history of the US in Vietnam.
We've been to Japan, a country the US was at war with for a long time. We went Korea and saw the Korean War museum and memorial. I've been to Germany. But that history seems longer ago to me. The Vietnam War was part of my childhood and the life of my parents in a way the other historical events weren't.
I know many Americans now go to Vietnam as tourists and I am sure I will really enjoy it and learn a lot. But I take the trip with some emotion - sadness at all that happened and which was caused by people from my country not much older than me. Not personal responsibility, but national responsibility. I feel respectful of that and humble.
You can't help feeling as an expat that what your country does or did do, is not you. You learn that early. You have to, or else you would feel responsible for atrocities and idiocies and inequalities. And yet, you are part of it. It's part of the country that you are a part of. For better or worse. You can make personal relationships with people that transcend governments and that is really important. I think sometimes that's all you can do. I am American, but I am not my government, nor am I all Americans, nor am I America. All travelers come to this, no matter what country they are from.
But some histories are more painful, and more people suffered, and it was closer to home. That's how I feel about Vietnam.
We've been to Japan, a country the US was at war with for a long time. We went Korea and saw the Korean War museum and memorial. I've been to Germany. But that history seems longer ago to me. The Vietnam War was part of my childhood and the life of my parents in a way the other historical events weren't.
I know many Americans now go to Vietnam as tourists and I am sure I will really enjoy it and learn a lot. But I take the trip with some emotion - sadness at all that happened and which was caused by people from my country not much older than me. Not personal responsibility, but national responsibility. I feel respectful of that and humble.
You can't help feeling as an expat that what your country does or did do, is not you. You learn that early. You have to, or else you would feel responsible for atrocities and idiocies and inequalities. And yet, you are part of it. It's part of the country that you are a part of. For better or worse. You can make personal relationships with people that transcend governments and that is really important. I think sometimes that's all you can do. I am American, but I am not my government, nor am I all Americans, nor am I America. All travelers come to this, no matter what country they are from.
But some histories are more painful, and more people suffered, and it was closer to home. That's how I feel about Vietnam.
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