Author’s Note
Somehow, this madness must cease. We must stop now. I speak as a child of God and brother to the suffering poor of Vietnam. I speak for those whose land is being laid waste, whose homes are being destroyed, whose culture is being subverted. I speak for the poor in America who are paying the double price of smashed hopes at home and death and corruption in Vietnam. I speak as a citizen of the world, for the world as it stands aghast at the path we have taken. I speak as an American to the leaders of my own nation. The great initiative in this war is ours. The initiative to stop it must be ours.
Dr Martin Luther King, Jr.
The Trumpet of Conscience, 1967.
Di ra môt ngày, vê môt sàng khôn
(translated) Go out one day, and come back with a basket full of knowledge.
An ancient Vietnamese proverb ‘Ca Dao’
Don’t grumble or complain son. There are many people a lot worse off than you:
Son, weak people make excuses, but it’s weaker people whom accept them:
She was a wise old bird, my old mum ‘Pearl Nielsen.’
Friends are like angels who lift us to our feet when our wings have trouble remembering how to fly:
Vicky Eggleton, 1944-2007 favourite Aunt.
With nearly seven, billion people, over 250 countries and 22 main religions, but only 1 life and 1 sick planet. Use one wisely to heal the other:
The world is a fine place and worth fighting for and I’d hate very much to leave it:
Earnest Hemingway
All foreign words and phrases within the sections of this outstanding, informative novel are in the language of the country the Chapter depicts: Vietnamese, Cambodian and Thai.
