The Vietnam War: A Short Story

On a nice sunny day, Ty is watering his plants in his front yard. He limps as he comes towards me. Shaking hands, he gives me a hug and I asked him how he was doing. “Never better. Can’t complain!” He is dressed in his casual clothes, a white undershirt and his old pants that seem that have some paint over it. On the sides of the front yard as well as the backyard, there is a garden. There is an enormous array of plants, some of them are used to his own creation. Along the right side of the yard, there are two bushes, one shaped as an airplane and the other as a bird.
“Why do you like to garden?”, I asked. “Every day I want to garden and make my house look better”, Ty says, “I think that the government always to improve this country, so I …show more content…
From the early 1960’s to the end of the Vietnam War, he was a soldier who was responsible for protecting the civilians in a small city named Phan Rang. When the South lost the war to Vietcong, he was forced to live in a concentration camp for seven years. In the concentration camp, he explains, “It was terrible, it was hell. We were like slaves, we had to everything.” As the conversation goes on, he became more tense. The wrinkles on his face become visible. His eyes became a bit red and he seemed like he wanted to cry. He discusses the harsh conditions he encountered. He was starving, and he persevered to stay alive in prison. “Can you imagine, that when I entered the camp, I was 175 lbs. Then when I left, I lost 70 pounds. Everyday, I could eat only one bowl of rice. I would have to find the insects, rodents like rats and mice, anything that …show more content…
He keeps himself busy with a wide range of activities to do. “I am getting older. I have lived here for a long time and I better have activities to keep my life productive such as gardening”, he says. He focuses on staying organized by always keeping his surroundings clean, even if it is not at home. “When I see litter along the sea, I collect it and put it in the proper place”, he says. He sees that everything needs to be organized and that doing simple, intentional acts of goodness will help protect the environment and maintain a good society. He finishes off how it is difficult for him to do all of his activities not just because of old age, but because of diabetes. “It is very dangerous. I try to keep a diet and try to exercise every day so I can keep it under control”. Even with diabetes, he is optimistic, he looks towards his daily exercise by working in the