Tuoi Tre talks to Ed Tick, US Psychotherapists who, with his wife Kate Dahlstedt, runs “Speak Peace: American Voices Respond to Vietnamese Children's Paintings” -- a traveling exhibit to promote US-Vietnam post-war reconciliation by fostering creative forms of cross-cultural communication.
The exhibit debuted at Kent State's Downtown Gallery in Ohio, US on September 25, to mark the 40th anniversary of the 1970 killing by the Ohio National Guards of four unarmed college students who were protesting the US invasion of Cambodia.
It consists of pairing written reactions, in poems or prose, of American children, students and war veterans to 100 war-inspired drawings by Vietnamese children borrowed from the Ho Chi Minh City’s War Remnants Museum.
How do you feel about the US-Vietnam war?
“Many generations of my family have experienced pain and post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) as a result of the war in Vietnam. Although I did not participate I was among the first anti-war protesters. I was affected by the war and the thought that my country caused so much pain. Hence my life was shaped by the war in Vietnam. I come to Vietnam to help heal the souls of my country’s veterans as well as to manifest my moral responsibility and bring a message of peace to the Vietnamese people. I think that the Vietnam War should teach us how intolerable and horrible war is.
How did you come up with the vision for Speak Peace?
I have been taking Americans and US veterans to Vietnam in reconciliation trips for ten years. Every year we come to the museum and once again witness the pain and horrors of war. Sometimes the visitors break down at the sight of so much pain.
The museum organizes the peace-painting contests for Vietnamese children. Children really want peace in the world. I found that all visitors to the exhibition at Kent University in Ohio are also motivated by a desire for peace.
The museum sent me 100 paintings by Vietnamese children. We uploaded them to the website to reach Americans, especially veterans and elementary school children. We had no idea how the American public would respond, but within few months we received 12,000 letters from both children and adults all over the country.
Are there recurrent themes in the paintings by Vietnamese children?
Seventy percent of the paintings are about peace, which means that the children want peace. Some paintings show how war can affect many generations. In fact, people can be affected by war even if they did not participate. That is why we should end all wars on our planet. One painting by a 5-year child depicts the US dropping bombs on Vietnam, but it’s named Iraq. I understand his message as all wars in the world are the same.
When still alive, Mother Theresa used to say: “I was once asked why I do not participate in anti-war demonstrations. I said that I will never do that, but as soon as you have a pro-peace rally, I'll be there”. Is that what you are saying?
Exactly, I organize activities for peace which heal the pain caused by the war. I want people to understand that we must not only stop the war, but also heal the pain it causes.
I really love a poem named “Why” by students at Miller South School for Visual and Performing arts in Akron, Ohio. They use analogies “Why don’t you substitute the torpedo with a lovely dolphin? Why don’t you turn barbed wire into knitting-needle for shirts? I look at the sky and see bullets and think why can’t they be pretty birds?”
The poem moves me every time I read it. It was written collaboratively by a whole class in response to “Water Color” a painting by Vietnam’s 11 year-old Phung Van Khai.
Someone said that human beings become wiser not thanks to memories gathered from their past but through manifesting their responsibility towards the future. How does this relate to your reconciliation trips to Vietnam?
To be more responsible in shaping the future, we need to have an open heart. Everybody experiences pain, but hides it. I want people to open their heart, to live and experience life’s emotions, even fear.
Nobody like tears
I want to see tears because a smile will come after a tear.
Edward Tick is co-director of the non-profit organization “Soldiers’ Heart”, a project to promote veterans’ successful return by addressing emotional, moral and spiritual needs of veterans, their families and communities. He is also the co-founder of Sanctuary International Friendship Foundation, a nonprofit agency that directs and raises funds for projects to help heal the consequences of war in Vietnam.
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