the world for more than it simply is

I’m a bit grimy right now–haven’t had a proper shower in about three days or so. This weekend was our class trip to Hồ Ba Bể, an expansive lake in the Bắc Kạn province. The trip was amazing complete with morning trips to the ethnic markets, daytime treks through rural areas and rice fields, home-stays with local families, and jumping off thirty foot rocky ledges into the water among other things.

I finished reading a great book earlier today on the ride back; perhaps you have heard of Andrew Xuan Pham’s Catfish and Mandala. I would recommend this book to Vietnamese and non-Vietnamese alike. During the course of the many hours I spent finishing the work, I realized that there were quite a few parallels between the author’s story and my own which I am currently in the process of forging. I will not describe them here as I deem it unnecessary to do so. However, this book got me thinking about the future–my future to be exact.

It does not matter what the ethnicity of my future wife will be. However, I have the feeling that this so-called culture that I at times try to grasp is ever-changing with the different forms of existence that I encounter daily. Thus, I begin to wonder what kind of cultural environment my children will grow up in. I have not firmly decided where I will make my home in the years to come, but I hope that I will be able to share this country with future generations. For the most part, I have come to understand that the majority of local Vietnamese residents feel that this country is poor. In fact, nine out of ten of my usual conversations with the locals eventually reaches a point where Việt Nam’s poverty is mentioned. Habitually, I would reply to the speaker that wealth does not matter and that I enjoy the country nevertheless. But who am I to speak of these matters when I have never experienced such hardships myself? In the eyes of the local populations, I have the means of obtaining a better life than they. Their struggles are vastly different than mine. In a sense, I would like to be able to help these people who share a common land with my ancestors. Yet at the same time, I feel that I have a duty to educate and change the landscape of the United States towards that ideal goal called equality. I believe this is why I cannot yet decide on what future line of work I would really like to do. Perhaps something that spans domestic and international at the same time?

Just need more time to dwell on these thoughts, that’s all.