| The Moral Of The Story Is: They Made It.______
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http://www.learningcurve.gov.uk | Recently a friend of mine told me this wonderful story about this Vietnamese woman she had hired. The woman was beautiful, very articulate, and well-educated. She came to America over twenty years ago as a youngster. Her family walked totally across Laos and Cambodia to Thailand where they finally made it to the Philippines, then to America. They were part of the abandoned Vietnamese.
The moral of the story is that they made it. Are they better off in America? What if we had won the war? Who knows and who knows where Iraq will be in ten to twenty years. We thought the worst for Vietnam; and, in many ways, the country is today, one of the Pearls of the Far East.
So even though I have fears about the future of Iraq and believe the war has been mismanaged from the beginning, I always hope for the best. Who knows? One day Iraq may be reasonably safe and an economic force in the Middle East. We can only hope and pray for such an outcome. KT
Related Articles:
Beautiful Country(see article below)
Vietnamese in America
30th Anniversary of the Fall of Siagon
Botched Execution
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http://www.shsu.edu/~his_sub/map-Vietnam.jpg | Beautiful Country. Very heavy movie. I think it had to do with the fact that somehow in every Vietnam combat vet's psyche, all the problems of the Vietnamese are laid at our feet. At least I have felt that way. Not true, but have always felt like we let the Vietnamese down. We made all those promises and then ran out on them.
Vietnam was not like Iraq, we actually had a moral purpose and were operating at the behest of a legitimate government although corrupt; but still, for the time, it seemed to be the right thing to do. But, like Iraq, Nam was mismanaged to the max.
STORY LINE WAS HEAVY
It is the early 1990's in Vietnam. Binh, an Amerasian (Father was American soldier in Nam and Mother was Vietnamese) is an outcast, a child of the dust. He goes through an entire series of mishaps in leaving Vietnam. Just when you think it can't get any worse and your heart is weighted down, it gets worse! Binh's mother flees to Siagon leaving him behind in the country side. Unaccepted, he finally leaves when the mother's sister decides to marry and there's no room for Binh in the home. Binh travels to Saigon and finds his mother. (interesting thing here is that the word, Saigon, is used and not Ho Chi Minh City). The Mother is very accepting and gets him a job shining shoes and other menial tasks. He is tall, unlike the Vietnamese, and all know he is a "child of the dust." He is abused by employers. Finally, he has an accident which kills the employer; he escapes with the help of his Mother who sends his half brother, Tam, with him to become one of the "boat" people. Amazingly he and his brother survive; they finally get to Malaysia and become slave laborers.
IMPOSSIBLE TO RELATE THE INTRICACIES OF THE STORY
In an odd set of circumstances, he escapes the horrific slave labor camp with a Chinese prostitute and wannabe singer, Ling, and his little brother. They board an old freighter. There's an unscrupulous boat captain and slave trafficker. They have a portion of money to pay their way to the United States. What they don't have, they must agree to work off in New York through indentured servitude. Many die on the voyage where there is little food, to include his little brother, Tam. Binh finally gets to NY; the prostitute, Ling, who he loves, goes back to plying her trade. Binh works and finally heads out to find his father; he has a picture.
NICK NOLTE IS THE PERFECT FATHER FOR THE MOVIE
Binh goes to Texas. Steve, Nick Nolte, who is blind works on a ranch. After some bungling attempts, father, Steve; son, Binh; are reunited. By this time, I am exhausted; all this drama really gets to you.
SUMMARY
This movie is very symbolic; Beautiful Country is America ; Binh is America; thus Beautiful Country is Vietnam.
Impossible to do justice to all the allegory, the symbolism, and the metaphors in this movie. It should be about four hours long to explore all of the above. I'm serious! I doubt many Vietnam veterans will see the movie as distribution is very limited and such a shame. It was heavy and any sane person would avoid it, but most of us Vietvets are hardly sane. We should see it and then discuss and tell war stories and start a buzz about it.
Other interesting facts, include:1) the movie is about Vietnam, and an Amerasian's struggles, but it is a Norwegian production 2)The film has English subtitled Vietnamese dialogue gradually becoming American English as Binh's language skills improve. jhl (August 15.05)
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| Commentary: Instant Messaging and the GI by Kelly Thomas______
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REUTERS/US Navy/Chief Petty Officer Edward Martens | Soldiers in Iraq and overseas have unparalled communications possibilities with their loved ones back home. I have singularly been skeptical. Instant communications has very immediate problems and can interfere with the soldier's job. Being at war is not a "day at the beach." It is war. People die. And, the distractions can cause death.
The following is an example. It is edited for clarity and disguised, but it is real and used with permission. Similar emails go back and forth daily and they are more the rule than the exception. This young soldier is an infantryman and regularly goes out on patrols in Baghdad. Distractions like the following could jeopardize his safety even more.
E-mail from mother-in-law:
I was going to write more but just finished an I.M.( instant message) session with my son-in-law. He hasn't been able to get in touch with my daughter via the phone or email. I told him I'd do my best to get in touch with her and will let him know. I'm upset because this is not how she should be treating him.
Additional email from the mother-in-law:
From my son-in-law's message, I got the impression he'd been trying to get my daughter for days. Wrong. They spoke yesterday for quite a while; and evidently, it was all screaming and arguing and bad stuff. My daughter said she just didn't want to get into that again today. So I sent my son-in-law an email more or less saying that, and said that maybe it wasn't a bad idea to have a cool down period not to mention saving money on calls. I suggested he might want to talk to a chaplain because they are wise and wonderful people.August 14-15 05?
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