Once Vietnam was reunified, it fought the Khmer Rouge to stop mistreatment of ethnic Vietnamese in Cambodia and to solidify that border. It fought a short border war with the Chinese. Vietnam is now a country with most of it's population born after "the American war." It has its inequities and injustices. It will transform itself at its own pace. It will never be "perfect." What country is?
The U.S. has taken its experience and knowledge and moved on, pushing new, and old, rivers.
There's a Vietnam era GI saying about "the American war" that goes "I wouldn't take a million dollars for the experience I had. I wouldn't do it again for a million dollars."
Boston raged about school integration. Affirmative Action helped more white women than any one else. Disco died. Suburbia grew. We went to the moon. Computers got desk topped size and smaller. And the wheel keeps turning. Sometimes in ruts. Some times in new lurches. And, every once in a while, in new paths.
Often I wonder: Will America grow up while, or after, "We're #1?" Will we ever learn to "embrace the suck" we can't avoid?
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