Tran Van Thuy, the director of
the film A Story from the Corner of the Park, had
wanted to come to
Dear American Friends,
I am very sorry I can’t be with you in this important good will meeting.
At the request of American friends—Americans who have paid special attention to the consequences of the chemicals used during the Vietnam War— and the anthropologist Diane Fox, and also by my own desire, I write this letter to share a few thoughts with you in this meeting of like minds to be held on November 11 in New York state.
The
first thing I want to tell you is that in my youth I was a combat photographer.
With my camera in my hand, I was present in, passed through, and slept in
forests where chemicals had denuded the leaves, in areas of the south in Quang Tri, Thua Thien, Quang
In recent years I have gone with many American friends to investigate and film the consequences of chemicals in the provinces of Nam Dinh and Thai Binh in the north. These American friends could not bear it when they witnessed the suffering, the handicaps,and the utter impasse of these victims lives. One friend had to turn away, go out to the garden, bury his face in his hands and weep. It was truly horrific. Do you know what I thought in the midst of that misfortune and the horror my countrymen endured? I thought many things. Among those thoughts was one that was execrable, very selfish. How lucky I am that nothing happened to me, and that my two children are healthy. As a result of that visit I learned a lesson, very simple but very true, about happiness. What is happiness? Happiness is being healthy, being able to have an ordinary life like everyone else. That is all you need to be happy.
The second thing I want to share with you is that it seems we are coming to pay attention to the problem of the chemicals used in the Vietnam war very slowly, very belatedly. In that wrongful delay, I see the fault first of we Vietnamese, and then of the American authorities. No one can measure how much suffering and injustice have accumulated. No one can count how many lives have withered in sickness and silent destitution. The war has been over 30 years already. Perhaps we have become numb in the face of human suffering, numb in the face of inhuman acts.
Third, out of my own experience I want to share this thought with you. We need to try to share with unfortunate victims. But however much we try, we can share only a very small part. And many times even the small part we can share is only from the outside, an exterior form The Russian poet Constantine Simonov has a very interesting line: “Suffering never belongs to just one person alone.”. That is indeed a lofty thought, but I’m afraid it only serves to ease people’s minds. I believe the truth of life is [crueler / more truculent / fiercer]: “In real life, those who suffer, those who are unlucky, carry their burdens themselves.” So, in this work for the victims of Agent Orange, we work first of all perhaps to ease our own conscience, work first for ourselves. Let me say again that this is my own personal experience and feeling.
Finally,
I want to express my thanks for your attention to our film. We made the short
documentary, “Story from the Corner of a Park,” nearly ten years ago. It tells
the story of just one family, only one grain of sand in the ocean of suffering
of those families who bear the consequences of the chemicals used in the war in
Last
year I went to
Thank you for taking the time to listen to my words. Thank you, Diane Fox, for helping me by reading this letter to the group.
I wish you all peace and health.
Tran Van Thuy