Posted by sigismund on April 10, 2011, at 1:50:45
In reply to Re: bedrest + all over the board » sigismund, posted by floatingbridge on April 9, 2011, at 19:21:39
Well, you should be able to guess who wrote that.
I too grew up during Vietnam.
I was in Kathmandu with my nephew and this Canadian spoke disparagingly about an American acupuncturist there, and just then he walks into the restaurant and I had had my fair share of drink and he starts off, after introductions, by asking my nephew of the prayer beads around his neck were made from the bones of aborigines. So when the conversation moved to health care and we were free to speak frankly and seek revenge. I had tried with the Canadian to say something balanced but he responded with 'You don't have to live next to them'. Anyway the Canadian and I ganged up on the acupuncturist.
I've enjoyed Vietnam because the people are so upfront and friendly. I could go to a cafe in Da Lat and read Cormac McCarthy for two hours and cry into my rum and then find a Vietnamese man to talk about the politics of unification with for 90 minutes on the way home. I was interested in how people felt a defeated enemy should be treated, as many people in Da Lat would have been. I never saw anything (as opposed to people) in Vietnam outside of Hanoi and Da Lat I wanted to see, but I felt strongly about the history. When we were last there it was the 1000th anniversary of the founding of Hanoi and all around Hoan Kiem lake there were displays and lights and floating balloons over the water and I reflected on their history and our role in it and felt happiness for them and shame at the same time. I thought of how it would have been almost any time in the preceding 50 years, especially around 1968 and after.
poster:sigismund
thread:982366
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/social/20110407/msgs/982383.html