In chapter five of her book Life is a Trip, Judith Fein, talks about searching for forgiveness
in Vietnam. In this part of the book she recounts the story of when she went to
Vietnam because she wanted to know what had happened to them since the war, and
how they felt toward Americans after all those years. What she found out
surprised her; the Vietnamese felt nothing but forgiveness for the Americans
and their country was thriving. In the
following I will discuss some quotes that stood out to me the most from the
reading.
“I didn’t want to go to war either. What did I know or care about Lenin and socialism at age eighteen? I wanted to stay home and play rock ‘n’ roll songs on my guitar” (Fein, 35).
How many soldiers from both sides must have felt this
way? Some were drafted and others volunteered, however, there were those who
did not know what they had signed up for. It is shocking to think about how
many of them did not actually want to be there. Also, some did not care or really
understood why they were doing what they were doing. They were much too young;
a teenager who’s mind is on teenage stuff and is not mature enough to
understand what is going on does not belong in a war. Sadly many of them died
before they even had a chance to really start living life.
“We have even met with American soldiers who came back here. They arrived full of guilt and some went to apologize in villages where they had killed people. We embraced them and we even cried together” (Fein, 32).
What is stated in this quote would not have been
possible without forgiveness. Forgiveness is a very powerful and beautiful
thing that not everyone is able to give to others or to themselves. These
soldiers had been carrying around guilt and resentment for years if not
decades. All these are feelings that eat at, destroy and kill you little by
little each day. The only way to move on from those weights that pull you down
is to apologize, seek forgiveness and to forgive yourself. If it takes a big
person to apologize, it takes an even bigger person to forgive. This quote is
filled with great emotion that represents the power of forgiveness.
“There was no difference between the American soldiers and me. We were both caught up in a situation and circumstances. When I realized that, I could give up my anger. Now, I think of those soldiers with compassion” (Fein, 35).
Indeed, there was no difference between them because
both sides were fighting for their homeland and what they believed was right.
That is what they had in common. It is possible that he saw himself reflected
on those American soldiers and realized that in that sense they were just like
him. Then, somehow because of that he started to think of them with compassion,
maybe even hoping that they would feel the same way toward him. It was that
feeling of sameness and identification with the other that helped the Vietnamese
soldier give up the anger he felt for the American soldiers.
In closing I leave you, the readers, a video of a song called Civil War by the band Guns N' Roses. This is a song with amazing lyrics that refer to "war" in general. I hope you enjoy it!
The explanation for the first quote you chose reminded me of something I read once, a story that portrayed the differences between soldiers who were drafted into WW2 and the ones who enlisted. How the drafted sometimes got angry with other soldiers because if they had anything to do with it they wouldn't be fighting in a war they could die in. I agree with your second explanation, sometimes when you bottle something in for to long it can eat away at you or make you bitter. By finding that "sameness" as you speak of, by putting himself in other soldiers shoes, he was able to forgive them and I find that to be truly inspiring and I'm glad you chose to explore that in this post.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you to find that the people of Vietnam forgave the American soldiers is surprising. It is also interesting to see that the author cannot believe this and is always asking the same question just to make sure is true. The Vietnamese must be very mature and wise people to able able to make such a decision. It is sad to see that a lot of these soldiers did not even know what they were fighting for and that some were even forced to participate in the war. They must have felt very lost and scarred trying the survive the war. For the Americans to come back to the places they attacked must have been a very traumatic experience it took great courage to go back and seek forgiveness just as i took courage to forgive. In the end, just like you said soldiers from both sides experienced the same things and were only fighting for their lives and trying to survive.
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