Today was split into 2 very different halves. The first half of the day was spent on Buddhism and specifically its place in Vietnam and how it is different in other Southeastern Asian countries. I’ve always liked learning about other religions and it helps me understand people from different backgrounds better so I’m very glad we got this brief overview of such a widespread religion. Tuan, our tour guide was actually teaching us about Buddhism which was a bit of a surprise but definitely a welcome one as he is one of my favorite people that we have met during our stay here. I think the most interesting part of Buddhism for me is the belief that desire is the root of suffering. Personally I agree fairly well with it but I don’t agree with the idea that humans should let go of all desires. There is value in having ambitions and wanting more but there is a line that gets crossed all too commonly. I understand wanting to avoid coming to that line so there is no potential to cross it. I also liked our discussion on whether or not Buddhism is more of a religion or a philosophy. I thought it was more in line with a philosophy but would not argue that it isn’t a religion. I won’t regurgitate everything that was said in class but it was very informative and helpful for understanding what we did next which was visit a Buddhist temple.
The temple was a really great experience as it gave us an actual example of how people practice Buddhism rather than just reading about it from a slideshow. The temple was also home to 2 other religions where followers would come to pray. There were so many statues that I struggled to figure out which each one was for. Unfortunately there were no pictures allowed so I cannot show them here but there were several that were at least 7 feet tall. There were also side rooms that were for individual deities that people would pray to for specific wishes, such as fortune and fertility. Tuan told us all about the practices of each religion, for example: the different hand placements for bowing to parents compared to grandparents compared to Buddha.
After lunch, we headed to the Reunification Palace. It was a very nicely decorated place with a ton of history. We saw war rooms with the maps still on the walls from the Vietnam War which was really cool. Tuan told us about the architecture choices and how it was designed to inspire freedom and equality in those who visited. It was a really interesting place to be and I would have loved it more if it wasn’t so hot. My favorite part of the Palace was the underground bunker. It was full of old technology that was state of the art back when it was being used. I would have loved to go back in time and see the palace operating at max efficiency. The Reunification Palace was wonderful but in terms of history it was only the appetizer as we moved on to the War Remnants museum.
It was a bit rainy which I felt fit the mood for what I learned while I was here. The actions of America were horrifying to put it lightly. I read about the multiple massacres that were performed on villages full of Vietnamese people whose crime was being Vietnamese during the war. There was a section title “War Crimes” and it lived up to its name. Endless civilians were cut down and executed without a second thought, it was such a disgusting waste of human life. Reading the quotes from American soldiers about them slaughtering people who didn’t understand what was going on got me choked up. A quote that really stuck with me was about how some Vietnamese people just gave up trying to survive and would continue their lives, waiting to be spotted by an American and shot on sight. Not even the Americans could understand the senseless violence being performed as one talked about a higher up asking if they “knew what to do” with rounded up civilians. That soldier thought he was just to watch the prisoners and when the higher up returned and saw them he asked why the prisoners were still alive and then started shooting, encouraging the fellow soldiers to join in. Over 3 million Vietnamese people were killed in the Vietnam War but 2 million of them were civilians. It is truly terrible that so many were caught in the crossfire. The Viet Cong did not help remove the target on the civilians back, in fact I would argue that they created it, and once it was there, they made it bigger. Many of the VC would disguise themselves as civilians in order to smuggle weapons and supplies to VC depots as well as hiding as farmers in the day and carrying out attacks on the Americans at night and these people were hailed as heroes but by making the Americans weary of civilians they felt the best way to protect themselves was to kill the civilians. I am not saying the Americans made the right choice but I understand when it comes to life or death, you typically want to play it safe for yourself.
Agent Orange was not taught in my high school so I really only learned about it with any depth to its effect today. I don’t believe there is any way to justify the continued use of Agent Orange on the Vietnamese countryside nor its people. It is so much worse than just bombing as it leaves a lasting effect that makes the land dangerous and harms future generations. The War Remnants Museum has an entire section on Agent Orange, filled with pictures of those who were disfigured from it and it broke my heart to read the captions about people struggling to just live while dealing with the effects. It wasn’t just Vietnamese people who were affected as many of the Americans and their allies were harmed by Agent Orange. The photo that affected me most was of a little boy with a caption that talked about the life in his eyes that hungered for a normal life that he could never have as he wasn’t even able to feed himself even when food was right in front of him.
The worst part of all this to me is that it is clear that America has not learned from this at all. We still involve ourselves in places in far away lands that do not want our intervention and it typically ends with that country having a new found dislike of America that wasn’t there before. There is a place in the world for interventionism but going about it like this is not the correct way at all and must be avoided.
There was also a section on the prison camps and how prisoners were treated which was also appalling. There were many torture methods described, each was worse than the last but one stood out to me as it was the name sake for the section: “The Tiger Cages.” The image below is a recreation of the tiger cages in which prisoners are forced into a tiny cage that is covered in barbed wire and forced to just stay there in an uncomfortable position for days on end. Any movement would result in further punishment in the form of barbed wire whips another form of torture. The only food being rotten rice and some salt. I read that prisoners would refrain from eating the salt as to help with the wounds they were given which I found awful. The treatment of the prisoners of war by the Americans reminded me of Nazi concentration camps. The Vietnamese people are very forgiving to be able to welcome Americans into their country again and work with us despite all we did to them. I am not sure I would be able to but I am glad they are. Obviously this was a very one sided view of the war but it is a side that I had not really seen before and I’m glad I had the opportunity to gain a new perspective on the Vietnam War.
