I sit here on Memorial Day weekend, thankful for the sacrifices of many who have meant the freedom and peace that we enjoy in our country, but also across much of the developed world. At the same time, I am reminded of how ugly war is. The conflicts between peoples and nations are often so convoluted it’s hard to know if there is a right and wrong.
The truth of the matter is death is wrong and there are no good reasons to end the life of another image bearer of God. I grew up hearing about the heroism and valor of people who fought against the odds in wars like the Vietnam war. I contrast that with what I learned of the Vietnamese people, their country, and government.
After more than a thousand years of occupation and domination by the Chinese, Japanese, and French, Vietnam successfully declared independence in 1945. Just ten years later, this destitute nation paid a multi-decade price for being a Communist nation, amid the broader conflict of Democracy vs Communism.
But to the Vietnamese, founding their government on communist principles had nothing to do with the oppressionistic regimes we were fighting elsewhere in the world. It was just about taking care of the people. We spent a couple months in Vietnam and what we saw there, completely changed our paradigms about what communism is.
Despite “The American War” being just decades ago, the people were warm and inviting. We even toured The American War Museum in Hanoi with a family who adopted us. The atrocities committed there are unspeakable, but there is forgiveness and even appreciation for the few gestures we have made at restitution.
These people will literally give the hat off their head if it would bring joy to another human being. If we don’t fear them, we stand to learn a lot about community, grace, peace from these beautiful people. To us, this is one of the beautiful things about worldschooling. Our kids do not grow up with an education about the world that’s based on revisionist history or words that we all repeat to ourselves.
Instead, they see it for themselves and they are free to make their own judgement based on the facts before them. What’s cool, is we’ve seen them defend other peoples when friends and family speak about another country out of ignorance. On multiple occasions, we’ve witnessed them saying things like “no, the Japanese aren’t like that. We’ve met them and it only seems that way because they value peace and personal space.”
