The Importance of Community
beach at Da Nang, Vietnam
Early one morning, while I was staying at a hotel in Da Nang, Vietnam, I took a walk along the beach. It was probably six o’clock when I stepped out of my hotel room and made my way down to Da Nang Bay along the Pacific Ocean. When I arrived at the water’s edge, I looked down the beach and saw hundreds of local Vietnamese people all dressed in long black pants and black shirts. Almost like an uncoordinated flash-mob, they were all doing stretches and yoga-type movements. The whole scene took me by surprise and seemed very surreal. My first thought was that I had happened upon a kung fu camp being hosted by the hotel, except for the fact that each person was acting independent of the others with no sign of a leader calling out instructions or orders. As I walked down the beach in my blue sweatpants and white t-shirt and extraordinarily white skin, I stood out like a sore thumb. People were nonchalantly staring at me, though they did not break the concentration of their exercise routine. I continued to be amazed at the sheer numbers of people and the commonality of their actions. »Read the rest of this entry
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