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| Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum |
As we stood outside in line, miles away from the mausoleum, in
between thousands of Vietnamese tourists, I couldn’t understand. As I unwillingly handed my camera over to the
guards and watched my small purse go through metal detectors twice, I thought
that this security was a little extreme given what was being protected. This is because I assumed that what I would
find in that Mausoleum was simply a dead body.
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| Saluting Uncle Ho Chi Minh |
After standing in the early morning heat with thousands of other
eager (and pushy I might add!) tourists, children on fieldtrip, and Vietnamese
tour groups, we entered the concrete shrine.
As I climbed the steps with each stair dropping another 5 degrees in
temperature, I suddenly became aware of my surroundings. Total silence. All hats had been removed, all sunglasses
taken off, and the pushing suddenly subsided.
Like the day I waited eight hours in the hot sun to see His Majesty, I
quickly realized soon after I entered the building that this mausoleum was much
more than a simple grave. As I rounded
the corner and set eyes on Ho Chi Minh, the entire history of the country
flashed in my face. He looked just like
the famous propaganda posters with his perfect beard and balding head – regally
resting with four guards at each corner where he lay. The father of a country, the brother of a
revolution – here lies the man that changed it all, and is eternally worshiped
for his contributions to his country.
While the overwhelming reverence of the revolutionary was at times
eerie, I couldn’t help but feel sorry for Ho Chi Minh. He wrote in his last will and testament that
he be cremated with his ashes spread over the country, yet the government has
denied him this wish and here he lies, encapsulated in a glass box, for all to
see. I couldn’t help but feel a strong
sense of him not wanting this immense concrete shrine and endless adoration and
he seemed stuck in time, preserved, and trapped.
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