The Significance of Stories

Imagine you live in a country where you are forbidden or reluctant to tell others, even to your loved ones and dear friends, certain stories because if you do, you may be arrested by the state and you may be tortured. You would experience first hand the capricious and absolute nature of totalitarianism, of the absurdity and obscenity of power that certain individuals in the name of state security exert over you. Imagine also you actually were arrested and mistreated and you are now physically ill from the mistreatment. So the "authorities" (scumbags who abuse power and who are not as smart or educated as you) released you not into freedom but temporarily at the confinement inside your home where you are forbidden to leave and nobody, even if he is a foreign diplomat or a legislator, is allowed to visit you.

If you are such a person whose freedom is taken away from you and if you were trained as a priest, a spiritual leader, how would you react? Do you give up and live the rest of your life like a vanquished animal, eternally in fear and in slavery and keep your mouth shut or will you fight back to reclaim your birthright of freedom? Father Nguyen Van Ly certainly is a true and brave human. Fear is not in his DNA. He issued a call asking the Viet military officers and government officials to demonstrate against the corrupt, inept, treasonous (for selling Vietnam to China) VC government. He is openly challenging the "authorities". He stated if he was arrested, he would go for a hunger strike. The Reverend has no fear of death. Heroes are like that, unlike cowards who always play safe.

Salman Rushdie once defined the human being is "the story-telling animal, the only creature on Earth that tells itself stories in order to understand what sort of creature it is". Basically, every time we open our mouths or commit our thoughts in writing, we tell a story about ourselves. Most of us would lie and embellish our stories to convince others and sometimes even ourselves that we are decent, respectable, "knowledgeable", "sensitive", kind, and even patriotic. But facts and truths always have a way to make their presence known.

Father Nguyen Van Ly is telling the Viet people and the world his story. What about you, what stories you are prepared to tell us?