We Should All Feel Sick

Nothing about armed conflict should be attractive for any reason, the military as a way of “seeing the world",” dismissed as the bad idea that it is. “The pen is mightier than the sword,” and “blessed are the peacemakers” should be the philosophy of all humanity, and desire to hurt and destroy those that disagree with us, be allowed to serve as historical lessons in the evolution of humankind.

However, the world we live in now is but a breath more civilized than it was a hundred years ago, the only difference being that we’ve developed technology to help us keep our hands cleaner during the crime.

Visiting the American War Remnants Museum did nothing to change my feelings about armed conflict, but it did further inflame my feelings toward those that treat the subject casually.

The museum itself is now known as the American War Remnants Museum but was once known as the American War Crimes Museum, a change that while helpful for international relations, is a less accurate description of what it represents.

The End is The Beginning

We arrived at the museum, which appears to be more of a military machinery showcase based on the amount of artillery on display out front. After purchasing our tickets and exploring some of the machines around the exterior, we mounted the steps to see what awaited us inside.

Inside the door is a glass display cabinet, the contents of which are letters written by veterans, as well as metals of distinction awarded to those veterans by the US Government. However, as it would turn out, both the letters and the metals, were from American service members whom had chosen to send the metals they had earned during their time in Vietnam, back to the country where they had been earned along with letters of apology for the things they had done on behalf of the American government. Welcome to the museum.

Shock and Awe

The many rooms of this museum cover various sociopolitical aspects of the conflict, rooms, and displays dedicated to the journalists from around the globe that lost their lives, documentation retrieved from both governments which outlines efforts made to conceal the realities of the situation both from the service members supporting the effort as well as to the citizens of each country. One cabinet in particular containing photographs of journalists that lost their lives also bears a sign which the exact phrase has eluded me, but the sentiment of which struck me as being very gracious. It read (in effect), “The massive loss of life resulting from this conflict was not the desire of each respective country, but rather the result of selfish individuals within the governments on each side.” The sentiment is both true, and gracious, considering the massive price which their country is STILL to this day paying.

Two rooms which I found most difficult to view were toward the end, one dedicated to the effects of Agent Orange, and the other to the Vietnamese prisoners of war which were captured and tortured by fellow Vietnamese opposition forces. Photographs of one such person who had disemboweled THEMSELVES in protest to the torture being inflicted within a South Vietnamese prison, literally required me to step outside and place my head between my knees for fear of becoming sick at the site.

See No Evil, Speak No Evil, Hear No Evil

In my travels, I’ve come to view people around the world as being less and less different than myself. Remove the flags, and we’re all just human with the same base needs, wants, and fears. It pains me greatly to look upon events in history where people killed, or died, because of the prideful desires of things related to a flag, which is nothing more than fabric. Even still today, we fight wars physically and verbally for the same trivial reasons, words either carefully or carelessly chosen, capable of dividing families and countries. I’ve been accused on social media of being the “tone police,” but I believe that words are the most powerful tool that humans possess. A word can elicit feelings of pride, inspiration, love, hope, and forgiveness, but they can also generate fear, hate, panic, and action. Something so simple as a word can send us to war or to end one, and if my efforts to remind people of the power they hold over the words they use is to be “condemned” by such a title as Tone Policing, then I guess I welcome the insult.