The War Museum in Saigon is not a happy place. In fact, it is a one-sided testament of “look what the U.S. did to us.” Now, I’m not going to take any sides on who was right and who was wrong here. As a young American I am fully aware of how “touchy” this subject is so I’m just not going to get into it.
Anyway, hanging inside the museum is the famous photograph of the Vietnam War. You know the one. It’s a photograph of nine-year-old Phan Thị Kim Phúc (famously known as “The Napalm Girl”) running naked in the street after being burned by the bombings. It’s a tragic photo that speaks volumes as it sums up the Vietnam War in a nutshell. The photograph is accompanied by another, smaller, picture of her all grown up and carrying one of her children. Her burns are still strongly visible, yet in that moment, the only thing in her mind is that beautiful little boy in her arms. The burns don’t define her anymore. Despite continually working through her foundation to reach out and help children victimized by war, she is a wife and a mother now. That is who she is and that is who she will continue to be.
There are no other pictures I can show you from this trip that would be more important than this one.
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