Looking Back

Trip 6 is history.  The significance sustains.

With our telescope pointed toward our big bang what can we see?  How we got here?  Perhaps . . . if we consider how our view of the past is pummeled as it passes through our personal context.

On our trip, Veterans looked back at memories, some vivid, some suppressed.  Ghosts of the past were examined in the new light of the present.  One of our Vets told me he was ready to go back and talk openly with his children about his feelings and experiences of the war that he had previously kept bottled inside.  I revisited past trip experiences and saw other places for the first time, but the best thing for me was the chance to see through the eyes of other Veterans and students.

Khe Sanh

Students saw beyond what the classroom could say about a war.  They looked through the eyes of the Veterans at the horror, bravery, sorrow, humility, dedication to duty and patriotism that each one faced all those years ago.  Images from the trip, seeing where it happened, made it real, brought it to life.

  

We gained a new feel for the history, culture and mindset of the Vietnamese, different from North to South, different from Midwestern thought, ideas and values, yet still a part of the humanity we share.

    

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