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Thai Minh

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For those of us living across the world from relatives, we have the luxury of visiting their country every now and then. Therefore, our worldviews are not limited to a particular hemisphere. The same privilege rarely applies to them, since they usually confine themselves to the areas within their country or nearby countries. However, merely experiencing a certain way of life isn't enough until appreciating different perspectives. My Vietnamese cousin Thai Minh experiences the latter places of residence as a result of his search for various opportunities. Although this doesn't allow him to grasp an understanding of Western ideals, Minh views his current situation as a progress toward attaining that ability one day. Our conversation begins on …show more content…

"The government back then, they confiscated all the property from citizens, from people, and many people are forced to go to the undeveloped area which has never been explored before to rebuild." These acts of oppression happened without warning. One moment, a family is living in peace, and the next moment, the government suddenly seizes their land away from them. Families of all classes during this time period lived in continual fear of the government. But in fact, these losses of property encouraged more people to rebuild for the betterment of their country. Minh's father is currently joining in the collective effort to regenerate the land through farming. The combination of various efforts to rebuild their infrastructure along with the ending of war lead to the economy starting to grow again and people leading stable lives. Minh expresses clear disapproval for the communist government in Vietnam. The country only has a single party, which means that an ideology will continue to stay, regardless of whether the people like it or not. This lack of freedom of choices is off-putting to Minh. "We feel very suppressed and we cannot even voice our suppression against the party," he says. Minh would much rather have multiple parties so the citizens could have more choices to vote from and therefore have representation. He welcomes a change to a more democratically based system of voting so everyone is included in the …show more content…

Minh has stated all he has tried, and it is beginning to seem clear why he made these decisions. Just to be sure, I ask him, "Is there anything else you want to share?" Minh ends up giving some advice on life. "Don't be aimless in your life. You must set up a goal in your life and pursue it. So work hard and live happy no matter what. Okay?" Minh has assumed the roles of both a tourist and tour guide. He travels to the places that he views as rich in opportunities: the attractions. My cousin is in control of his own path, and will strive to understand the way of life of others in those various locations. In embarking on his endeavors, Minh has truly learned to appreciate other cultures, thus expanding the scope of his worldview. There remains one final destination for him to complete his

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