This is me, Vivian Harrington, in Tay Ninh, South Vietnam, the week Bill Clinton was first elected President of the USA. At the time, I was living in Hong Kong as an American expatriate. As an aside, Americans living outside the USA tend to wear their patriotism proudly.
In retrospect, despite his sexual peccadillos and likely criminal activity, Bill Clinton was a decent president. In any event, despite political differences, few overseas Americans denigrated Clinton. He was, after all, our commander in chief.
During my 5 1/2 years as an expat in Asia, I learned to appreciate the freedoms and blessings of the land of my birth, the home of the free, the place where the Constitution preserved certain inalienable rights.
I experienced martial law, treason for supporting an outlawed political party, the prohibition of importing goods that originated in certain countries or under particular regimes. Protectionism caused the price of frozen turkeys to escalate to support local chicken farmers. Embargoes limited imports. We checked expiration dates, boiled rice and pasta to skim the insects off the top and kept flour in the freezer to keep bugs from hatching.
We boiled water for drinking and brushing our teeth, rinsed the night soil off of produce with chlorine and drank beer at restaurants because water wasn’t safe. We tested the beer with wooden chopsticks to determine if formaldehyde poisoned the brew.
But, the experience overall was golden. The photo above shows me with a group of Vietnamese children who welcomed me, embraced me, led up the path of Black Lady Mountain, told me which beggars to support, brought me to a Buddhist nun at the top of the climb, shared the joy of childhood in a place that had been overlooked for decades, and reminded me of the universal need to connect with others.
This is what makes America great, our openness, our generosity, our belief in the goodness of humankind.
We are not the evildoers that the left projects. We believe in truth, justice, fairness, equality and the ability to overcome challenges with strength of spirit.
We do not believe in equal outcomes. We believe in equal opportunity. We believe that those who work hard deserve to enjoy the fruits of their labors. And, most of us have no envy or jealousy towards those who succeed. Instead, we wish we had the creativity to market a pet rock, or Cabbage Patch Dolls, or personal computers or electric cars or used books from a garage that became Amazon. That is the American spirit.
God Bless the USA.