War is a ferocious form of insanity.
∼ Cora May Harris
North Vietnamese Flag, now Vietnamese Flag
Hien Quy Minh Nguyen was born and raised in Hanoi during the Vietnam War. In 1972, B-52 planes carpet-bombed Hanoi when she was 8 years old. She witnessed houses in Hanoi being destroyed, the wall of the French Consulate building in Hanoi being broken by B-52 bombs when the US and Vietnam diplomatic delegations were meeting in Paris to negotiate a peace agreement. This bombed place was only half a mile from the prison where John McCain & other American pilots were being held. During the evacuations to avoid the bombs, she lost all toys and books. Her father, an educator, taught her English as a game and told her that English is a peaceful international language. In the 1990s, she spent several years researching in Ukraine and Russia for her Ph.D. of telecoms. During this time, she witnessed the collapse of the Soviet Union. She participated in the Vietnamese & international telecoms projects. She received an EB-1A visa for extraordinary ability and then became a US citizen.
WAR SYNDROME AND THE SOUP KITCHEN
by Hien Quy Minh Nguyen
After the Vietnam War ended, many American veterans of the Vietnam War returned to Vietnam to visit. Senator John McCain was one of them. He was a famous veteran who pioneered reconciliation and peace. Many veterans visited Vietnam annually for 20 or 30 years. Some of them traveled only to Vietnam. I had meetings with some of the American veterans. We became friends and talked about many topics. I asked one of them why he preferred to travel frequently to Vietnam. He answered that it was a “war syndrome”, and that for him it was post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
What was war syndrome? Was it a spiritual problem? At that time, I could not understand what war syndrome was for American veterans. I appreciated their feeling, but I could not understand. After the war Vietnam was very poor; we were very poor. I and my Vietnamese friends, who were born and grew up in the war, were busy studying, getting jobs, working, trying to build a peaceful life. Busy, busy and busy. We had no time for sadness and grudges. We wanted to forget the injuries of the war to build a new life. War syndrome was a new concept for me, and I could not understand until I visited a Soup Kitchen in the United States.
The first time I visited the Soup Kitchen in Waukegan, Illinois was on Thursday, Mar 8, 2018. My English teacher told me that he was a volunteer in a Soup Kitchen and after tutoring English he would go serve dinner to poor people. I wanted to know and to write about the life of poor Americans therefore I asked him to let me go to the Soup Kitchen with him. He said Okay. Before visiting, I thought that the Soup Kitchen would give soup, bread and simple food to poor people. But my thoughts were incorrect. The Soup Kitchen was very different from my assumptions. The Soup Kitchen gave delicious dinners for poor people. Meals included vegetable salad, fruit salad, meat, potato chip, soup, buttered bread… and desserts. Desserts included apple pies, cherry pies, chocolate cakes, muffins, cupcakes, cookies and more.
Hanoi was devastated by U.S. bombing during the Vietnam War, with 1972 seeing the heaviest attacks
When I saw this dinner, suddenly a special bittersweet feeling surfaced in my mind. It reminded me of the poor meals I ate during and after the war. Many of our meals were noodles and vegetables only, no meat, no fruit, no butter, no dessert… When Hanoi was bombed (from 1964 to 1972), many of our poor meals were interrupted when sirens howled, and everyone rushed into the underground bomb-shelters…
As I stood in the kitchen, the sad memories of the war appeared in my mind, becoming larger and larger. I wanted to cry. I could not continue standing there with such sad memories. I told my English teacher that I needed to leave. I said goodbye to other volunteers then I left the Soup Kitchen. My tears flowed along the road as I drove my car home. On the road from the Soup Kitchen to my home, I now understood and felt “war syndrome”. In the peaceful life, the memories of the war could surface, making pain and hurt. That was not easy to talk about. That was war syndrome, the psychological wounds of people who have lived through wars. Through wars, people came to understand the bloody cost of war and the great value of peace.
One week after my first visit to the Soup Kitchen, the pain was less and I recognized that I was a lucky person because I survived the war and continued to live, to grow, to study, to work… I got good jobs and a happy life with many interesting travels. My family was more fortunate than others who lost homes, lost family or died in the war. God blessed me and now I should help less fortune people. The next Thursday, I came back and became a volunteer in the Soup Kitchen.
I am currently a regular volunteer at the Charity Kitchen now. Step by step, I understood more and more about Americans and American life. Many homeless people were regular guests of the Soup Kitchen. Several guests ate a couple of dinners there until they got jobs and money enough to survive. All the volunteers were very nice people with good jobs and good lives. They served meals in a friendly manner for the poor and homeless. Their friendly ways were encouragement for poor people, helping them to believe in themselves and other human beings. Meals were helpful for bodies and encouragement was helpful for spirits. Most volunteers were Americans, some volunteers came from Mexico, Germany, Thailand, Philippines, South Korea, China and I came from Vietnam. We all became friends. We volunteered to serve in the Soup Kitchen to help poor people, and we found spiritual happiness in our giving.
The Soup Kitchen was always open for all people. In the Soup Kitchen, a piece of paper was pasted on the wall, rewriting the words of St. Teresa:
“I can do things you cannot. You can do things I cannot. But together we can do great things”.
Yes. I and other volunteers in the Soup Kitchen, were and are doing great things.
Hien and Joe
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Other writings by Hien:
https://www.amazon.com/stores/author/B0FBLLGR43?ccs_id=25f5fde7-acc2-450d-a103-092629412dcb
