Submitted by Katherine Chaney on the 2018 winter session program in Vietnam and Cambodia sponsored by the Alfred Lerner College of Business and Economics…
Throughout elementary school, middle school, high school and beyond, I have grown up learning about the history of the United States and the various wars we have been a part of. The American Revolution, World War I, World War II and so on, have been engraved into our school lessons, mainly highlighting our country’s victories rather than losses. However, it seems that the Vietnam War was one topic that was always brushed over, only being touched upon slightly. Now a sophomore in college and traveling to Southeast Asia, I find myself lacking information on an event that happened more recently than we realize, and an event that could be a learning experience for us all.
With little military progress and a high-rising mortality rate, many questioned whether the United States really had a place in Vietnam or not. Despite the innocent lives being lost, battle tragedies, defects caused by Agent Orange and so on, the soldiers continued to fight. While visiting the War Remnants Museum, I couldn’t even bare to look at the photographs plastered all over the walls of the birth defects of little children and permanent medical problems of Vietnamese citizens without coming to tears. I was distraught at the thought that my own country was responsible for some of theses actions. Beyond the moral dilemma of our involvement in the country Vietnam, the United States was pouring billions of dollars into the war, damaging our economy along the way. More money was being invested abroad than within our own country. It was the government’s desire to stop the spread of communism that served as the main force for our involvement. However, in the end, the United States ultimately failed to defend South Vietnam against the North communists, leaving many to think the entire thing was a loss. All that we left behind was a damaged country, with the many innocent victims that inhabited it.
Yet, despite the negative impacts the United States’ involvement in the war caused the country of Vietnam, many Americans, including myself, are pleasantly surprised upon arriving in Vietnam only forty-three years later. The heartwarming citizens seem to care little about the war, always remembering, but also looking past the photographic evidence displayed in the War Remnants Museum. The Vietnamese are overwhelmingly welcoming to their former enemies. With smiles on their faces and open hearts, the locals spread nothing, but love. This is something we can all learn from. Our history cannot be changed, but the present and our future can be. The nature of optimism and forgiveness is powerful. In the words of Martin Luther King Jr., “If we will make the right choice, we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our world into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood.”