I wanted to come here to learn about the country we ravaged 50 years ago. Many Americans chose to defend the Vietnamese against the evils of communism while others protested the horrific violence which victimized them. No matter which camp you were in during the 1960’s and ‘70’s, in the U.S. you knew democracy represented the allies, and communism was the enemy.

We went to the Women’s Museum in Hanoi, where we got a different perspective. The exhibits lauded the many heroic contributions and sacrifices made by women during the “American war”. We were the common enemy. The end of the war is referred to as the “reunification” and not as surrender.

I asked our young Intrepid guide Dat about his parents’ take on the war. In particular I have always been amazed by people’s ability to put the past behind them and welcome visitors that had once been their enemies. Dat’s explanation was that the division was political, not one of religious or tribal origin, like so many ancient cultural wars. Most people are Buddhist in Vietnam, he said, and the goal is to encourage peace.

Although that is a simplistic view, as Vietnam has been ruled by the French and Chinese, and politics are complex, I do wish Christian nations would share that view…

So many of the towns we have passed, or which remain to be visited on our itinerary, are ones whose names provoke chilling memories from my youth: Hanoi, Danang, Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City), the Mekong Delta, Phnom Penh (Cambodia). Sites of atrocities like My Lai, and the killing fields of the Khmer Rouge. After 50 years, it’s all been rebuilt and people want to move on.

Upon arriving in Ho Chi Minh City, we went straight to the War Remnants Museum. I was asked by a friend how I could stand to go there; wouldn’t it be too traumatic? This is part of why I came here: to never forget, to feel the limits of human evil, to counteract the shame I feel as an American, to make a peace offering of sorts.

There’s so much I never understood about the war as a young person—that our involvement in S. Vietnam was corrupt, that we violated the Geneva Accords by our unethical policies. In addition to the hundreds of thousands of military casualties, the 80 civilians killed at My Lai, there were millions of Vietnamese and Americans maimed by the effects of Agent Orange, the dioxin based exfoliant used to clear the jungle. This exposure affected more than one generation, causing cancers and horrific birth defects.

As I passed through the exhibits of the museum, tears ran down my face for those whose lives were destroyed by the war. May humanity someday learn from the past so that those who sacrificed so much won’t have suffered in vain.