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87 Kindergarten Rice, bamboo, children sprouting on this green river as long as tides flow During the war, rice was the symbol of the North and bamboo of the South. Together they show a reunited land. And with children first, these three are the most important components of Vietnamese culture, declaring its fertility, longevity, and life-affirming values. The Mekong River flows for 2,600 miles through countries that war has finally abandoned. Here the color green is symbolic of peace. In language and world, this green river is simultaneously a river of peace. In their new bright yellow schoolroom, toes dancing on tile floor, the children recite and sing for us. Then our vets joyously howl, “I’ve been working on the railroad . . .” Children laugh while parents grin through the windows.We create new memories to supercede the old.We help rebalance the cosmic scales made tipsy by what we took. R We fly to Pleiku in the Central Highlands to revisit sites where several of our veterans served.During our war,Pleiku evolved from red dust crossroads to crowded military support base. Now it has become a busy market town tossed between the old and new, between Vietnamese and minority ethnic group residents and vendors. On A Pleiku Street 1: Night Along the rows of shuttered shops the only person I pass and greet is a solitary vendor sitting behind her metal crate. Her magazines are spread ...

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