The Fruits of Your Suffering: A Letter to My Refugee Mom | The On Being Project
The daughter of refugees pens an open letter to her mother. She reflects on the inheritance of suffering, offering this ode to the resilience of the human spirit and gratitude for the opportunity to flourish.
When I ask what you remember most vividly from the day that Saigon fell, you remember people’s sad eyes. You were home alone when the South Vietnamese government surrendered on April 30, 1975. You ran outside in disbelief, joining your neighbors on the street. There were tanks — American tanks — coming down your streets, displaying the wrong flag, being driven by the wrong soldiers. You wanted to cry but the tears wouldn’t come. You were 22 years old and two months pregnant with your first baby girl. In the years that followed the fall of Saigon, every fiber of your body was bent towards…
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