-^-for posterity-^-

today is the 115th anniversiry of uncle ton’s birthday. he was the second leader of vietnam after uncle ho chi minh. he is one of the reasons that this end of the world is mildly famous. relatively famous, that is.

you see, he was born in a small shack on stilts situated on an island in the middle of the mekong. the island is called tiger island for a completely different reason which i believe i explained earlier. there is now a nice, shinny house there, a replica of his old house. there is also a museum commemorating his life and a shrine with a large, golden bust. in the middle of long xuyen, there is a large statue. it is bronze and depicts the man standing proudly. it is at least forty feet tall. his head is bald and his nose is round. his eyes are slightly hidden under baggy eyelids. he looks tired and wise. he’s not fat, he’s just healthy. his pants are eternally creased.

there was a large celebration for his birthday. they set up a stage next to his statue and people poured out into the streets. they sang songs and danced and remembered the struggle for independence, liberty and justice.

they also had four or five cars decorated for a parade. they all had large posters of the man on their front and sides. it’s the same, honest, wise face you see everywhere. sadly, they decided to decorate the cars a little too much. they had strings of light all over. they had large, fluorescent tubes around the frame. they trailed streamers. they flashed and honked their way through town, each looking very similar. people stopped and watched the lights and listened to the honking. uncle ton looked off into the distance. i wonder what he would have said 115 years on. happy birthday.