{"id":1373,"date":"2022-07-22T17:37:03","date_gmt":"2022-07-22T17:37:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tomabate.com\/ruminations\/?p=1373"},"modified":"2022-08-25T15:35:41","modified_gmt":"2022-08-25T21:35:41","slug":"a-patriotic-vietnamese-man-yearns-for-clean-air-and-democracy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tomabate.com\/ruminations\/a-patriotic-vietnamese-man-yearns-for-clean-air-and-democracy\/","title":{"rendered":"A patriotic Vietnamese man yearns for clean air and democracy"},"content":{"rendered":"It had been the stranger across the table who started a conversation that veered toward irony this Fourth of July weekend. \u201cSmoke not good,\u201d he had said, in accented English. \u201cToo much particulate matter.\u201d\r\n\r\nWe were seated at an outdoor coffee shop and the breeze had carried the scent past him a moment before it reached me. \u201cBarbeque?\u201d he guessed.\r\n\r\nI sniffed and shook my head. \u201cPaper,\u201d I replied, then made the leap from his black hair and Asian features to ask, \u201cYou from China?\u201d\r\n\r\n\u201cVietnam,\u201d he said proudly, and thereafter the visitor needed little coaxing to offer a capsule of his life story.\r\n\r\nHe was in the United States on business but would return to Saigon, he had said, using the name that Vietnamese in the north and south still commonly applied to what government documents and newspapers referred to as Ho Chi Minh City.\r\n\r\nHe was a pensioner with the means and opportunity to travel abroad, who had been working with collaborators from North and South America, as well as Europe, experiences that had filled him with optimism and enthusiasm.\r\n\r\nHe had spoken loudly enough to be overheard by another coffee shop patron, a man in jogging shorts and a sweaty t-shirt, who came over to say how much he had enjoyed touring Vietnam some years earlier. The conversation became animated and casual as the man recalled staying in guest homes for $10 a night and eating healthy food so cheap and plentiful that he had had to work off the calories by taking long walks in Hue, seat of the pre-colonial Vietnamese monarchy, before boarding an intercity bus with fully reclining seats to ride north to the modern capitol of Hanoi.\r\n\r\nThe third man had heard our Vietnamese visitor say he was drawing a pension and asked, \u201cHow old are you?\u201d When the visitor replied, \u201cSixty-two,\u201d the jogger whistled appreciatively. \u201cYou look a lot younger than your age,\u201d he had said as he rose to explain that he had to run home to dress for a business meeting.\r\n\r\nIn the lull that followed his departure I asked my new friend where he had learned such excellent English.\r\n\r\n\u201cLong story,\u201d he said, then proceeded to tell it.\r\n\r\nHe had been 15 when Saigon fell, ending the war with the United States. During high school the communist Vietnamese government had required that he study Mandarin as a second language. By the time he started college in 1978, the language requirement had changed to Russian. But almost before his studies began, he was called up to serve in the Army. After China invaded the northern border of Vietnam in February 1979, all able-bodied men had been hastily mobilized, given two weeks of basic training to familiarize them with military discipline and the AK-47, then sent to a prepare a fallback position should the Chinese break through the Vietnamese regulars at the front.\r\n
\u201cWe dug tunnels and trenches on low hills,\u201d he said. \u201cWe thought nothing about our lives or futures. We were prepared to die.\u201d<\/blockquote>\r\nBut the Chinese soon withdrew from Vietnam, the draftees were demobilized, and he had gone back to mastering Russian. In the early \u201890s he decided to study English. \u201cIt was very difficult. There were no tapes or books. I took some private evening classes, but I had to teach myself.\u201d\r\n\r\nNow he was financially comfortable and free to pursue his own interests, which included sharing his experiences with young people. \u201cI want them to think,\u201d he said pointing tapping his head with the index fingers of both hands.\r\n\r\n\u201cWhat do you want young people to think about?\u201d I had asked.\r\n\r\nHe thought for a moment before he replies. \u201cI want them to think about the environment of Vietnam. And I want them to work for democracy.\u201d his voice trailed off. \u201cMaybe in 10 or 15 years.\u201d His voice trailed off.\r\n\r\nWe met during a week in which a congressional committee, derided by some as a partisan exercise, heard sworn testimony that a former president had tried to grab the steering wheel of his limousine to join the mob he had urged to march on the Capitol to stop members of the House and Senate from certifying the results of an election that he continues to insist, and many American still believe, had been stolen.\r\n\r\nI smiled, and nodded, but said nothing, keeping private a conviction born of my own patriotism and optimism, that my fellow American will not discard a free tradition to which so many people around the world can merely aspire.\r\n\r\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A chance encounter over the Fourth of July weekend should make us wonder why some Americans seem ready to discard freedoms that rest of world envies.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":1482,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1373","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-anecdotes"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nA patriotic Vietnamese man yearns for clean air and democracy - Tomabate<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/tomabate.com\/ruminations\/a-patriotic-vietnamese-man-yearns-for-clean-air-and-democracy\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"A patriotic Vietnamese man yearns for clean air and democracy - Tomabate\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A chance encounter over the Fourth of July weekend should make us wonder why some Americans seem ready to discard freedoms that rest of world envies.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/tomabate.com\/ruminations\/a-patriotic-vietnamese-man-yearns-for-clean-air-and-democracy\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Tomabate\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-07-22T17:37:03+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-08-25T21:35:41+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/tomabate.com\/ruminations\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/icon-reflections-anecdotes.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1081\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1080\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Drea Sullivan\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Drea Sullivan\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/tomabate.com\/ruminations\/a-patriotic-vietnamese-man-yearns-for-clean-air-and-democracy\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/tomabate.com\/ruminations\/a-patriotic-vietnamese-man-yearns-for-clean-air-and-democracy\/\",\"name\":\"A patriotic Vietnamese man yearns for clean air and democracy - Tomabate\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/tomabate.com\/ruminations\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2022-07-22T17:37:03+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-08-25T21:35:41+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/tomabate.com\/ruminations\/#\/schema\/person\/4c2bf0cd3904733f8168e6b1ba61c69e\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/tomabate.com\/ruminations\/a-patriotic-vietnamese-man-yearns-for-clean-air-and-democracy\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/tomabate.com\/ruminations\/a-patriotic-vietnamese-man-yearns-for-clean-air-and-democracy\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/tomabate.com\/ruminations\/a-patriotic-vietnamese-man-yearns-for-clean-air-and-democracy\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/tomabate.com\/ruminations\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"A patriotic Vietnamese man yearns for clean air and democracy\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/tomabate.com\/ruminations\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/tomabate.com\/ruminations\/\",\"name\":\"Tomabate\",\"description\":\"Ruminations from a writer, grandfather, and veteran\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/tomabate.com\/ruminations\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/tomabate.com\/ruminations\/#\/schema\/person\/4c2bf0cd3904733f8168e6b1ba61c69e\",\"name\":\"Drea Sullivan\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/tomabate.com\/ruminations\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8ff8377856eb9632718164201a6197e23fdcf91b7313dc979ec63c6fa4afc587?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8ff8377856eb9632718164201a6197e23fdcf91b7313dc979ec63c6fa4afc587?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Drea Sullivan\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/tomabate.com\/ruminations\/author\/drea\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"A patriotic Vietnamese man yearns for clean air and democracy - Tomabate","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/tomabate.com\/ruminations\/a-patriotic-vietnamese-man-yearns-for-clean-air-and-democracy\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"A patriotic Vietnamese man yearns for clean air and democracy - Tomabate","og_description":"A chance encounter over the Fourth of July weekend should make us wonder why some Americans seem ready to discard freedoms that rest of world envies.","og_url":"https:\/\/tomabate.com\/ruminations\/a-patriotic-vietnamese-man-yearns-for-clean-air-and-democracy\/","og_site_name":"Tomabate","article_published_time":"2022-07-22T17:37:03+00:00","article_modified_time":"2022-08-25T21:35:41+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1081,"height":1080,"url":"https:\/\/tomabate.com\/ruminations\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/icon-reflections-anecdotes.png","type":"image\/png"}],"author":"Drea Sullivan","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Drea Sullivan","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/tomabate.com\/ruminations\/a-patriotic-vietnamese-man-yearns-for-clean-air-and-democracy\/","url":"https:\/\/tomabate.com\/ruminations\/a-patriotic-vietnamese-man-yearns-for-clean-air-and-democracy\/","name":"A patriotic Vietnamese man yearns for clean air and democracy - Tomabate","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/tomabate.com\/ruminations\/#website"},"datePublished":"2022-07-22T17:37:03+00:00","dateModified":"2022-08-25T21:35:41+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/tomabate.com\/ruminations\/#\/schema\/person\/4c2bf0cd3904733f8168e6b1ba61c69e"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/tomabate.com\/ruminations\/a-patriotic-vietnamese-man-yearns-for-clean-air-and-democracy\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/tomabate.com\/ruminations\/a-patriotic-vietnamese-man-yearns-for-clean-air-and-democracy\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/tomabate.com\/ruminations\/a-patriotic-vietnamese-man-yearns-for-clean-air-and-democracy\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/tomabate.com\/ruminations\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"A patriotic Vietnamese man yearns for clean air and democracy"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/tomabate.com\/ruminations\/#website","url":"https:\/\/tomabate.com\/ruminations\/","name":"Tomabate","description":"Ruminations from a writer, grandfather, and veteran","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/tomabate.com\/ruminations\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/tomabate.com\/ruminations\/#\/schema\/person\/4c2bf0cd3904733f8168e6b1ba61c69e","name":"Drea Sullivan","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/tomabate.com\/ruminations\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8ff8377856eb9632718164201a6197e23fdcf91b7313dc979ec63c6fa4afc587?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8ff8377856eb9632718164201a6197e23fdcf91b7313dc979ec63c6fa4afc587?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Drea Sullivan"},"url":"https:\/\/tomabate.com\/ruminations\/author\/drea\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tomabate.com\/ruminations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1373","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tomabate.com\/ruminations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tomabate.com\/ruminations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tomabate.com\/ruminations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tomabate.com\/ruminations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1373"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/tomabate.com\/ruminations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1373\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1374,"href":"https:\/\/tomabate.com\/ruminations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1373\/revisions\/1374"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tomabate.com\/ruminations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1482"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tomabate.com\/ruminations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1373"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tomabate.com\/ruminations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1373"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tomabate.com\/ruminations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1373"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}