11 May 2001
Stuart Wood

I was eight months old and oblivious when the world changed for the people of Saigon.

On April 30th 1975 the Americans quit their sorry war and abandoned their Embassy to the advancing Vietcong. About the same time, a family of people who are now my friends clambered aboard a packed boat carrying little but their resolve and set sail for somewhere.

Twenty five years on, it's worth remembering.

In fact, stop now as you're reading and imagine the dislocation, the swallowed rage, the lingering grief of a nation scattered like mercury out of a thermometer. Of four million dead after ten years of pointless arm's-length wreckage.

Then think about a young family putting one foot then another on cold soil 8,000 miles from home, gathering themselves in, and setting about the human business of survival.

Even today, the scene repeats itself continually. The world changes like this for somebody every hour. There's the fact, then there's the feeling. Let's not be oblivious to either.