Last Night I Dreamed of Peace: Linda Duck

Posted At : January 29, 2009 1:00 AM
Related Categories: Personal Narratives

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Taken from Last Night I Dreamed of Peace, the Diary Of Dang Thuy Tram, translated by Andrew Pham and published by Harmony Books.

Contributed and read by Linda Duck: "Like Dang Thuy Tram, I too dream of peace." Linda is a retired marketing executive currently working on an education in trauma psychology. She spends part of each year as an international humanitarian volunteer. Last spring, she found this book while taking a short respite in Hanoi from her work with Burmese refugees at Mae Tao Clinic.

Dang Thuy Tram was a 24-year-old doctor from Hanoi working south of the demilitarized zone during the Vietnam War. She kept a diary, which was recovered from her body after she was killed. In Last Night I Dreamed of Peace, she writes:

"Rain falls without respite. Rain deepens my sadness, its chill making me yearn for the warmth of a family reunion. If only I had wings to fly back to our beautiful house on Lo Duc Street, to eat with Dad, Mom, and my siblings, one simple meal with watercress and one night's sleep under the old cotton blanket. Last night I dreamed that Peace was established, I came back and saw everybody. Oh, the dream of Peace and Independence has burned in the hearts of thirty million people for so long. For Peace and Independence, we have sacrificed everything. So many people have volunteered to sacrifice their whole lives for two words: Independence and Liberty. I, too have sacrificed my life for that grandiose fulfillment."

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It's difficult to contain emotions-mine through hers. The diary hits me personally. I was born to the lullaby of this war. I grew up witnessing its savagery engulfing lives & humanity... Indeed, the diary has the fire within. Her words are raw & achingly vivid as she accounts amid the atrocities, annihilation & dehumanization of war the very core of human conditions, existence & veracity. Fate did deny her life. But chances & choices, death can't deny her. Her voice echoes eternally. She is extraordinary. Do read this book with one's own sense of humility & openness to understand & embrace peace- the inner peace.

# Posted By phuong | 12/29/09 10:55 PM

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