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Kudos indeed! As expected, these lonely voices of Freedom and Justice are heard. The recognitions from abroad are much needed to sustain the movement.
Early 80s, my parents were worried that after several generations under communism there will not be a voice of freedom left in VN. I saw tear in my mother eyes along with the concerns running deeply among the lines on my father face. While we were in a refugee camp in Ark (1975), he salvaged an old VNmese newspaper out of the trashcan to preserve it for posterity. I asked him why, he simply stated to later prove it to us, our children, and the world that once was a country called VN. It has a rich culture and language - I was like…huh? Even then, as if he saw the writing on the wall. He was convinced that we would not able to return to VN– based on the political and technology of the day. To this day, no one from our family has set a foot back.
Early 90s; after college; with a new bride and my brother, we decided to attend a march against communist. Against my new bride wish, we wanted to go in case the communists decided to push the old folks around; if that was the case; we were to do some shoving of our own!
We got there late and to our surprises – there was an ocean of yellow flags with red stripes. I have never experienced anything like this in my entire life. The pride was swelling up in me. A kind granny handed me her flag; for I didn’t have one; and urged me to march on for this is my fight! Immediately, I was choked up in tear and the raw emotion consumed me. Finally, I got to do something for motherland and freedom that were lost. Needless to say, I can hardly cheer/chant with the crowd. At the end of the hour, I made several water runs to refresh +1k of people. Then someone broke out an acoustic and begun to sing. Mind you, almost half of the crowd was even younger than us and they didn’t know the lyrics. It was then that we three in unison screamed out the next line so the crowd can join in to sing. We were rocking then! We were so proud of the younger generation. At that moment, I knew VN future isn’t bleak and the voice of freedom will continue to be carried on. I sent dad several pictures of the march but I didn’t tell him about me ‘choking’!
Apr 05, 2017 10:36 AM
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