Incident at Hoan Kiem Lake

This is my first time in Asia and my first IADL Congress and the combination is pretty mind-blowing. I'm taking the day off from the Congress today (the "commissions" are over and today is the organizational day, elections, etc) to spend my brithday paying my respects to Ho Chi Minh and trying to write my thoughts down before they abandon me.

I've been starting every day at 5:30, walking the few blocks thru the old quarter from the great little hotel Eric found for us to the gorgeous Hoan Kiem lake, to join literally thousands of local people doing everything from tai chi to aerobics to fan dances to badminton with and without nets and with raquets or feet, to solitary meditation, to just walking around the lake in a huge river of people. The ubiquitous motorbikes are few and far between at that hour and the lake is as calm and reflective as the people.

Yesterday I did my qigong at the far end of the lake near where a young man was up to his neck in the water, slowly walking around and apparently picking occasional plastic bottles out of the water. I quickly realized he was developmentally disabled in some way. (More Agent Orange?) His mouth was open with a frozen surprised expression on his face. He started submerging and coming up with various things from the bottom of the lake and looking them over and holding them up to the sky -- a beautiful blue and white vase, a mucky woodframed screen, and then an amazing ceramic sculpture with a golden dragon and colorful creatures, which was partly covered with snails from the lake. He noticed me looking at him and brought the sculpture over to me as if to offer it to me. I bowed and smiled and pointed to him, as if to say no, it's yours. Suddenly there were two young cops by my side. Apparently, it's illegal to swim in the lake and they wanted him to get out. But instead of yelling at him or threatening him they spoke gently to him and soon there was a crowd of 50-100 people all trying to talk him out of the lake. No one taunted him, no one yelled at him, everyone was gentle and concerned. I had to leave to catch the bus for the Congress so I didn't see the end. But I heard a breaking sound as I was leaving and I found a broken piece of the blue and white vase when I went back this morning, so I think he may have thrown the vase on the concrete bank of the lake, perhaps not understanding that it would break or perhaps trying to fend off the people. Most mysterious. I'm telling about this because the gentle way the people responded seems to typify the social interaction I've observed. Maybe it's not socialism. Maybe it's Asia. It's definitely not what would have happened in a city in the US.

Susan Scott
Inverness, CA
Co-chair NLG IC and Task Force on the Americas