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Diverse tribes on a propaganda billboard, so Vietnam is also multicultural, like just about every other nation on earth, but the stress here is unity, not diversity.

The other day, I saw a sign, "VIETNAM IS ONE, VIETNAMESE ARE ONE." It's something Ho Chi Minh said in 1963, meaning North and South Vietnam should be united, but here, now, it means all the tribes, some only recently conquered, should see themselves as Vietnamese. There's always violence in assimilation, and you can't have unity without conformity.



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Right after this, an old woman said to me on the street, "You should go to the lake and take some nice pictures, to lessen your sadness."

"Đỡ buồn," lessen sadness, is a common Vietnamese expression. I write to lessen my sadness.



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[Father Trương Bửu Diệp]



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Cafe owner's baby. His mechanical lullaby sounded like a vintage musical box, and its faint melody soothed the entire cafe.



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