Miss Saigon.

So, I’m driving out to my favorite Vietnamese place—Miss Saigon—on Charlotte Pike. Back before the WNA (War of Northern Aggression), Charlotte was one of the main highways out of town. Now a long strip of it has become Nashville’s Little Vietnam.

On the way out I notice a church sign that says “Jesus didn’t speak english”—Amen to that.

Miss Saigon has a huge TV that’s mostly for weekend karaoke, but it always seems to be on—just usually with no sound. I look up in mid-meal to see Whoopi Goldberg and Bill O’Reilly clearly yelling and gesticulating at each other on his stupid Fox show. And here’s the kicker...they keep flashing to Ms. Jane Fonda protesting the whatever in Iraq. And I’m in a Vietnamese restaurant!

I was one of the few present who was “in country” (this one) when Ms. Fonda was protesting another quagmire of a war. So I just chuckled quietly to myself, and didn’t bother explaining to my waiter. It would have been too complicated. He knows I’m sorry for what happened to his country. The ones who aren’t don’t bother eating Vietnamese.

Driving thru little Vietnam. Passing the Taco trucks and the socially concious protestant church sign. Eating a really beautiful bowl of vermicelli with pork and little egg rolls—named something I can’t pronounce. Watching a loudmouthed Irish guy yelling back and forth with a black woman named Goldberg (and let’s be clear here—I’m not generalising about Irish people, I LOVE Irish people, but hell, IRELAND is probably ashamed of Bill O’Reilly). But at the end of the day...ain’t this a great country?

I got a fortune cookie that says “You will have a fine capacity for the enjoyment of life.” While I’m waiting on that, I’ll do what I can...