Page 317 - Thorn In The Heart

Chinh Nguyên

used to be their slaves, they would like to destroy us completely
and take over our land to be their colony. Therefore North
Vietnam was fell into the crisis of the famine 1943 without the
help of them. Nearly million Vietnamese in Northside was
hungry die. Because we were different their race, so they were
standing, and indifference to look at us fell on over the streets
before their eyes. Because their dirty war, they also took the
right of self-determination to cut off the whole goods that will
transport into the North from South Vietnam, since the people
were hungry die in North but full in South Vietnam.

Nguyen remembered one day of the early winter at 1956.
His mother

hold him in her arms, sat on the ground at the front of the
kitchen firewood in Ban-Me-Thuot City at South Vietnam and
around her were three his sisters. She kissed on his front head
and said:

"When you grow to be a man. You must be strong to fight
for your life in many situations. Not weakling and die like a
hungry die person."

Nguyen looked at his mother.

"Why do you said that?" He asked.

"Because you had survived the famine 1943 when you were
one year old."

"What happened for the famine 1943? I didn't
understand...!"

She looked at the front door, hold Nguyen tight on her arms,
looked at his two sisters who sat nearby her and sight.

"My-Thanh, Nguyen, My-Hanh, My-Chau. I never forgot
the images of the famine 1943. I was always worried, thought all
317