Tonight, we went to see a play called “Vietgone,” which portrays the Vietnam War, the American’s involvement in it, and Vietnamese refugees being brought to the U.S. refugee camp in Arkansas to establish new lives.

The play actually touches upon a frequently heard sentiment, that the Vietnam War was a “mistake,” that the U.S. had no place to be a part of the war between North and South Vietnam and only got into it for selfish reasons. While all of that may be true, what is also true is that a lot of great things came out of it; many Vietnamese people were successfully resettled in the U.S. as a result of the American involvement via the refugee camps, and I know many of these people today. They are doing well, in their stereotypical doctor/lawyer positions. If they aren’t doctors and lawyers, their children are certainly entering these prosperous fields and other lucrative, well looked upon professions. My mom married my dad, and my dad brought her over to the U.S. for a “better life,” which yielded Ed and me, for better or for worse. My mom gets upset about the war and doesn’t like to talk about it because of the tragedies she had to witness, but she looks at the American involvement as positive because she sees it as the Vietnamese dad sees it in this play: the Americans were trying to give her a better life. She’s in America today because of this war. And from my dad’s perspective, being a part of the U.S. Army, he looks at it from a positive, idealistic stand point in that he was sent there to make a difference. He doesn’t see it as a “mistake” or a waste.

It’s easy to call a war or a political decision a mistake when it had no direct impact on your life. It’s not as easy when it did have an impact on your life. That’s why most people’s opinions are full of crap when it comes to day to day things.