The LA Times, August 15th issue, ran a story about a Vietnamese fisherman in New Orleans. He has faced enough trial and tribulation a man can afford in one life time: boat people, legal immigrant life, Katrina, and now Gulf oil disaster.
Captain Nguyen is no ordinary captain. His boat has seen no Treasure Island.
And he wears no eye patch. From the accompanied photo, I can tell he is a chain smoker whose worry is to take care of his clan. God and country kind of guy.
Twice displaced hence not qualified for any kind of formal assistance.
“Keep filing out forms” they told him (from the BP make-shift town hall meetings).
I saw one of those make-shift operations during Katrina. Vietnamese “villagers” in New Orleans fled to Hong Kong mall in Houston to seek temporary shelters. We took care of our own type of spontaneous relief.
Captain Nguyen could very well be among those seeking help back in 2005.
The irony of the story is he is now back in line, once again (third time in his life).
Once “fresh of the boat”, now “forced off his own boat”.
I live in W Palm Beach. Owning a boat there is a sign of prestige.
In mister Nguyen’s case, the same act of AmericanGod-given right became a liability. Might as well have it repo.
Options? Not much. Opportunities? Ask the other millions of English-speaking American. (Mr Nguyen is so independent, has been in his own world, that even if offered a regular job, he certainly doesn’t know where to start).
So, he has time to talk to a reporter. Or, “can’t wait for the grass to grow” so he can keep busy.
In his spare time, I bet he ponders ” an unexamined life is a life not worth living”.
And that the boat itself is just a floating timber. It gets you from point A to point B. A vessel. And that vessel when docked doesn’t need navigation.
It’s the passenger that needs direction and destination.
In Mr Nguyen’s case, he doesn’t want to get off his boat. He was forced off.
I hear CCRs “on the Bayou” fading in, husky and strong like people living down there in tornado-zones. And I know, they will survive somehow. Just like those songs, if played again, still evoke in you and me that “deja vu” of a time when we thought we were invincible. BP and the boat people (bp).
Thang Nguyen 555 
