Notes from my scrap book

As I was reading Time Magazine’s account of the 25th Reunification Anniversary of Vietnam, several issues stood out that caught my attention:

1 How Vietnamese won both the war and peace in an undefined war except perhaps for our greedy miscues to control their oil and other resources.

2. Their socialistic form of government that embraces change, on a very gradual basis, bringing in the best qualities of our capitalistic system.

3. That it really doesn’t matter what system of government they have in place when their leaders understand the needs of their people and have worked equally hard to meet those needs–job!

4. The country has a surplus of engineers while we have a surplus of politicians and bureaucrats, the latter regurgitating the same long-standing issues daily however said a bit differently each meeting over coffee breaks.

5. I find the visit by American veterans a bit puzzling in the sense that perhaps there’s only curiosity to see all that may have gone right in a war they too have no conception of its origin.

The height of the Vietnam war reached its pinnacle just as then Hopwood Sr. High’s Class of 1968 marched through pomp and circumstance after
Typhoon Jean. Some of our own men fought in that war which includes former Command Sergeant Major Martin Manglona, Sergeant Major Frank G. Cepeda, and Captain Diego Mendiola who was with the Special Forces.

Well, even as veterans take quick glimpses of their Vietnam experiences as just font memories in Nam, I dare not lift a finger against any of them in that fighting is still second nature for them. And that is just saying it rather mildly. I wouldn’t dare use their specialty contained in a four letter word. You figure that one out yourself, yeah?
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I haven’t heard from my friend Guy Gabaldon for several years now. He’s one decorated soldier who earned his dues, putting his life on the line, in the name of freedom. While we may have differed ideologically, I still respect the gentleman for his contributions as a true freedom fighter.

How fortunate the post war generation for they were handed their freedom without having to work for it. It was Guy Gabaldon and other young American soldiers who shed their blood along the shores and hills of these isles that we were recipients of a treasured word we do not quite understand nor appreciate–freedom!

Gabaldon never sought the limelight in his personal initiative to help our young people exit addiction with drugs. He opened camps up north and on Goat Island, piloted his own small cessna airplane with kids on board who needed a place to defrost and return to normal life. Definitely a civic oriented person who deserves the accolade of leaders for trailblazing a project no one dares take up, alone! For all that you are Guy, you have a friend who treasures your sense of leadership and commitment. Un` dañkulo na Si Yuus Maase` ginen i korason mame Señor Gabaldon!
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For a decorated veteran, civic minded and often flies alone (a mark of true leadership), it wasn’t what we have said of each other that brought us together to forge a lasting friendship. It was a similar experience (siblings hanging on a thin thread of dear life) that united vicious though honest differences into a fully cemented friendship.

I suppose it was the radical in my soul that he watched with disdain for he has fought for freedom while I bask like a spoiled brat in the very freedom I’ve taken for granted. Perhaps I have grown-up and was able to listen to him express his views on the very essence of freedom. Thanks Guy! We are a free people! Si Yuus Maase`!