Ho Chi Minh Exposrue - 11
FROM
THE EAST: AN EMBRACE
By Nguyen Trinh Thi
WHEN I WAS A LITTLE GIRL, I
used a read a lot about Uncle Ho. And I used to cry when the story Ho was ill
or when he was going to die. I loved him as though he were my own grandfather.
But that was almost twenty years ago. Ho isn't there in my daily
life anymore.
I stopped reading about him long before I started high school, when the Beatles got
into my life instead. Later, even when people began to gossip about him over a
cup of tea, nothing about him could really get my attention, though I've been
reserving my deep
respect for him. Well, who cres if Ho indeed had a mistress
or did more in his life. In the end, he was a human being and a man. And
he's still a great man.
It was quite strange when I
talked about Ho with my family one recent day in Hanoi. For a couple of weeks,
both national and Hanoi TV had broadcast programs all day long to celebrate Ho's
110th birthy. Although Ho hasn't been mentioned in daily conversations for a long time,
I asked each member of my family, "Do you love Ho?" They didn't have
to think to say yes.
My grandfather was educated by and
lived a wealthy life under the French. He became much poorer after Ho won the
big battle and kicked the French out, but he told me that Ho was his hero.
"I couldn't imagine anyone who ever win independence from the French," my grandfather
said with obvious pride. "But Ho did. Do you know what it means?
We are a free people." Ho is one of three national saints my grandpa most
worships together with Ngo Quyen and Le Loi, the two kings who gained the Viet
country back from the Chinese in the 10th and 15th centuries.
My uncle agreed with what my grandpa said, but he says that today
ho is more so a
historical figure, a great man of the past. He recalled that the image of Ho
began to fade from the 1980s, when Vietnam's planning economy went into a free-fall.
My uncle, who used to work for the state until the late 1980s, when the goverrnment
abandoned many subidies and turned toward a market economy, now works for himself.
He compared Ho in war times to Fidel Castro during the Cuban revolution. "History
created heroes," he said. "In the hard times of the nation, Ho was
the center of solidarity because of his attractiveness as an individual."
My brother said he adored Ho's determination and wanted to learn
this quality from
him. "I don't know what his purpose is and don't care if it was right or
wrong," said my brother, who just graduated from college and is now running a
private music shop in Hanoi. "The point is that he did whatever he could
to reach his goal."
My nine-year-old cousin reminds
me of myself as a little at elementary school twenty years ago. When I asked
her if she loved Uncle Ho, without thinking much she nodded her head with confidence.
She just knew it must be the right answer and she should get a good grade for it. But
when I asked her why, she tried to think hard but couldn't come up with an answer.
At the same age as she, I must have learned a lot more in school and from my reading
about Uncle Ho than my cousin today, and should have known to say, "I love Ho
because he's such a humble man."
My little cousin
just smiled shyly and shook her head. She had'nt learned her answer in school
yet.
NGUYEN TRINH THI is an independent journalist in Hanoi
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