Today was a strictly cultural and historical day. We started off learning about Buddhist theory and visiting a pagoda. I am a cradle Catholic, so it was very interesting to contrast Buddhist philosophy with what I have grown up believing and still believe in. From what I have learned, both today and from a plethora of books I’ve read on Buddhism, I would believe the main difference would be alignment. Very broadly speaking, Buddhism focuses on aligning yourself with the smallest possible thing you could notice—your breath—and feeling the interconnectedness of all living things as a means to rid yourself of desire and subsequently rid yourself of suffering. On the other hand, the teachings I was raised to believe in involve aligning yourself with the biggest thing you can imagine—an all-powerful and all-good God—and trying to live according to the will of God. Some things I noticed from today that affirm this include the plethora of nature in the pagoda—both flora and fauna alike—that represent the interconnectedness of all living things. In addition, when people prayed, they bowed down to the ground and were very meditative. I contrast this with images of grandiose Catholic Churches where you generally sing to the heavens as you pray.

After the visit to the pagoda, we visited the Reunification Palace and the War Remnants museum. Learning about the history of Vietnam’s struggle for unity and independence really moved me, especially when learning about the American War as it called here as my Pappy fought in that war. It was truly a full-circle moment. While learning about all the facts of the war and what happened, it is still impossible to wrap my head around the fact that this happened near where I was standing, that my grandfather might have been there as well, and just how grueling the lives the soldiers of both sides were during this time.

However, despite the incomprehensible tragedy, one thing I will be taking away is the remarkable resilience that has been demonstrated. To illustrate, on Sunday, we visited the Cu Chi tunnels, one of the main ways the Vietcong were able to maintain a presence in war zones. Even going in these tunnels for 50 meters was genuinely one of the most painful, sweatiest, dirtiest, and most unpleasant experiences of my life, and that was just 50 meters—V.C. soldiers were going for over 50 times that length at once. This fact is simply a remarkable showcase of the indomitably of the human spirit. In addition, the country of Vietnam as a whole was decimated by bombings and Agent Orange, something very well documented in the museum. Considering all the learning I have done about Vietnam’s globalization and growth as a country, I believe this is also a testament to their resilience.