Radical Hospitality

My body’s arrived home, but I’m well aware that I’m not all here. I feel foggy and dazed, staring out my front window at what looks and feels like a different planet. There’s no food being prepared on the street and no groups of people sitting at small tables drinking coffee in front of my house. There are no bicycles filled to the brim with fruit or bread, no children playing or people passing by. There's no symphony of honking horns or near collisions of multitudes of motor bikes. Where is everyone?

My mind wanders back to the way that life in Viet Nam happens in community and out of doors and I imagine that it would be nearly impossible for a person to experience isolation in that culture. Perhaps that’s one of many reasons that American veterans find Viet Nam to be a place of healing.

I asked a young veteran who'd served in Afghanistan and was part of our team what it was about Viet Nam that offered him healing and his response was "It's impossible to be angry here." People are so kind and happy that it's just not an option. 

Another friend who served during the American War in Viet Nam reluctantly returned for a visit after nearly 40 years and fell so in love with the people and the place that he ended up staying 2 years, and during that time his dependence on anti-depressant medication dwindled and disappeared. He found himself happier and more well connected than he'd been in years.

“Radical Hospitality” is what I like to call those subtle encounters where we find ourselves in awe of unexpected generosity of people. It flows naturally and appears when we least expect it, leaving us smiling and feeling included and welcome, and even a little confused about where that unconditional love and thoughtfulness comes from. Our team was blessed to experience this magical, uninterrupted and flawless care of the Vietnamese people where only the present moment mattered.

Despite undeniable and often obscene poverty, there exists an abundance of intoxicating joy and radical hospitality in Viet Nam. While our culture places a high priority on accumulating monetary wealth, the Vietnamese show us that living from a place of simple generosity yeilds a richness that the human heart longs for. They live life from the perspective of what they have, not from what they don't have, and that has the potential to change everything!

CORE Viet Nam offers a great opportunity to experience the radical and healng hospitality of Viet Nam. Trips are planned and led by John Fisher and Vu Duc Anh with utmost care and consideration. For more information visit www.COREVietNam.org or contact John Fisher at 843-651-1086. You're also welcome to write me at pauladaporegriffin@gmail.com and I'll be happy to share more of my recent experience with CORE (Community Reconciliation - Viet Nam.

With love and gratitude! Paula