Cemetery adrift

They came, lived and died.

The long and short of it. In between, a lot of melodrama.

From de-colonizing to the Unthinkable (Republic of S Vietnam flag atop the US Capitol).

The ghosts of yesterday war. Forever haunting the airbnb “hotel” clusters (who else and how else can one live in Orange County on a South Vietnamese pension).

The culture clashes. The ideological clash. And now, the generational and demographic mismatch.

A lot of memories within the mile-square bedroom park.

People come and go. The land stays. From Pendleton to Washington. The significance of American involvement in the China Sea is documented and de-classified.

John Wayne Airport, however, is still standing. Shooting from the hip. Marines leave no one behind. always locked and loaded ready for deployment. Promise kept.

Exploited and embarrassing at times. Grown men cried while ghosts not quite buried.

The geo-political twist and turn, a gamble loss as our technological society thrives on. One generation then another. Always build back better. Always forward-looking. Always with a plan, albeit scrapable (course correction).

The Best and the Brightest. The Accounting approach. Fixing the boat while wading waters at the same time.

Then the stalemate. Then the tearful withdrawal two years after the China card play. To save face and fight on elsewhere.

Rocky turned Rambo.

The later buried, with a marker. The former, a statue in Philly.

A continent and cemetery adrift.

Contested. With Head of State (albeit number three) visit. “Most dangerous place on Earth”. Every hot war is.

Let me show you what we are capable of. Our missiles. Our range (of destruction) and our influence since the invention of firecrackers.

Among the neighbours, we’re the best and the brightest. We have been here, done that. China talk.

The longer one’s history, the growing its burial plot. From one generation to the next, with nothing to eat. Always the land, the plan and the talk. Tough talk. Paper tiger. Until we’re all dead, buried and forgotten.

Soldiers turned vets. Once marching to order, honor and shame, all mixed. The rest of the day are for groceries shopping and idle talk. Tough talk. After the big brother up North. Picking up after them over centuries of colonizing and assimilation.

What did the Vietnamese have to do with anything in the aftermath, besides being adrift and buried, in this case, at the corner of Beach and Bolsa in Westminster. A long history of unsuppressed courage and de-colonization. A pre-cursor to Iraq and Afghanistan. Of being “model minorities” in a land that doesn’t give the time of the day to newcomers. May I help you! Which package would you prefer (with or without the hired mourners).

I am into cremation. Nano particles to be re-assembled elsewhere, the further the better. Unburdened and encumbered, by a past full of shame and tears – after the fall.

They came, lived and died @ Westminster Memorial Park. Cemetery adrift.