Long Road

I did not upload a photograph from New Zealand today; instead, I uploaded one I took in Vietnam. I decided to do so upon hearing the news that an officer who conducted the My Lai massacre has finally apologized. I guess now is better than never, but it has been a long time coming. As most of you know, I spent 5 weeks doing community service in Vietnam between Junior and Senior years of high school. The area I worked in was My Lai (it is really just a village in a whole area that got massacred, but that is what they chose to call the incident because it was the biggest one in the area at that time). We were told we were the first group of Americans to come to the area since the war; whether or not that was true, I hope we left better memories with the village of Tinh Hoa than the ones they had of Americans before. To see the actual dirt roads, ditches, and trees that the infamous photographs of the My Lai victims show was a spiritual expierence that only those who were with me understand. However, what inspired me to try to live a thoughtful life was not the location, but the people. As hard (or even as simple) as it may seem, the Vietnamese people do not teach hate to their children. Though the government may promote a vengeful view towards the US, the Vietnamese people welcomed us with open arms. They knew we had no control over what other people from our country did and they did not judge us based on their actions. They also seemed to have that attitude towards each other, it was amazing and refreshing. I did not realize how ingrained hate was into our society until I came back from Tinh Hoa. I cannot even explain it; it is not a big fight or war that turns us against each other, but it ends up being all of the little actions, words, and quick assumptions/judgments that do so. I didn't pick this photo for any particular reason, it's not even one of my best ones from the trip; I was just scrolling through the images and opened it. For some reason, it seemed like I was seeing if for the very first time and I smiled.

If you were born in September (or any other month of the year...that should be everyone), click here and get inspired (if this doesn't do it, I don't know what will).