Hate Is Not Forever!
"Faith is the channel through which your hope can flow." No matter how bad things look, they can quickly change! I learned that lesson a long time ago. The 'Moon Landing' on July 19th, 1969, “Helmet Dude”! That’s me, second from left 50 years ago at the USAID guest house in Vientiane, Laos after I returned from The International Rice Research Institute in Los Banos, Philippines, late in ’69. That event proved to facilitate a great manifestation of reconciliation and it proved to me that hatred does not have to last.
The Vietnam War was a divisive time, maybe worse than now? I'd been sent to study advanced rice production at The International Rice Research Institute in Los Banos, Philippines, in ’69. There were about 40 people from 16 different countries from all over the world stretching from Africa to Korea. Many of the nations resented the US presence in Vietnam, and surprisingly, the most hostile were the two South Vietnamese. We spent 6 months, six days a week, 8 hours per day in our study in classrooms, greenhouses and rice paddies. My desk partner, 'Thin', happened to be one of the Vietnamese. We seemed to get along well, but one morning he suddenly attacked me falling away with both fists in a vicious rage. Most of his cursing was in Vietnamese, but I could catch a frequent, "You number ten man!" Several class mates quickly subdued him and since I outweighed him by a good 50 pounds, he did little damage. Upon threat of expulsion, he remained civil. I only found out years later that his family had been killed in a US bombing mission, which explained his actions . But, in one day, everything changed! July 19,1969.
I never understood why the USA landed on the moon at midnight in the States. I was having lunch at the IRRI cafeteria on July 19th when Neil Armstrong placed his foot on the moon. There were over 100 people there watching on an 18” black and white TV. At that moment the entire room erupted. There were representatives from 16 nations present and I was the closest American. They hoisted me up on their shoulders and paraded me around for a half an hour. These were people from Afghanistan, Pakistan, Nigeria, Vietnam, Thailand, India, Nepal, Burma, Laos and literally all over the world. But, to my great surprise, I looked down to see one of the men hoisting me over their heads was Thin. In my 73 years of life I have never seen people come together in such unity and pure joy as at that moment.