Vietnam - Study War No More
Finally, Vietnam, all said and done, my primary destination. While in Chiang Mai, Thailand, I met South African Sacha, and she invited me to her writing circle, which was taking place in a park, lake-side, a ways out-of-town near the university. It felt too privileged an opportunity to say “no,” and besides, I was intrigued, and she was very pretty. So I told her I’d come, and the evening before, I wrote this piece stream-consciousness:
Way Far East
In America, I grew up Catholic. An altar boy, a choir boy, hook line and sinker. But no sooner “thou shalt not kill,” than the priests of war wanted me to put a gun in my hand, ship me to Vietnam to fight communists - and Buddhists. To protect “democracy,” the American way of life.
And I said no way, Jose, and proceeded to protest and rage against the war. First anger; then with flowers and love.
What led me here, landed here on this day? Life’s ongoing ponder. We have stories and stories and love and loss. And here I am. “Hello.” “Saw-wah-dee” “Nice meeting you.”
One oddly good thing is that the wrong war at the wrong time seeded my curiosity about the exotic and mysterious “Far East.” Later, attending The King and I on Broadway - the king being the “King of Siam" - deepened my curiosity, and discovering Buddhism and Thai food, etc., had further ripened my appetite to visit here. More and more, morning meditation is my comfort zone, a touchstone. And here I feel a deepening.
—
A man I met at the Jungle (Bamboo) Market told me the Thai people have a thousand ways to talk about heartfelt love. Even if he was exaggerating, his palpable joy and appreciation had an aura about it that made it sound real.—
The Vietnam War, called the American War in Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia, was my tragedy for our time, of my time. Knowingly, I’m traveling here out of curiosity, but as much to make reparations. As if I could. But I can try.
I know what I have found here so far, and have an inkling of what I’m yet to find: more hope and wonder and understanding. In slow motion, like a slow boat down the Mekong River, cameo moments in my life that will last a lifetime.
—
Simple,
this life of loveliness
pain
and suffering.
and circumstance
pirouetting in mid-air,
touching down lightly
on pitch-hot pavements.
Dancing on the crest of waves
on the ebb, in the flow.
as far as my eye can see.
