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Vietnam Veteran Pete McKibben Reunites With Son Through Facebook
“(Oct. 17, 2009) -- Pete McKibben had to leave his girlfriend and unborn
son behind in Vietnam 36 years ago. He's been looking for them ever since.
The former U.S. Marine had lost hope and believed his sweetheart and child had been killed in the war-torn country, reported CNN. But, decades later, an email via Facebook changed his life.”
The Korean War Baby is overwhelmed by this news! For he also has a long lost son, he was also a US Marine who served during the Vietnam War. The Vietnamese mother (TaleOfTwoWomen) was mixed-blood with French, Cambodian, and Vietnamese and with the KWB mixed-blood of Korean, Spanish, Mexican, Apache he would be quite a MultiEthnic person! The mother told the KWB that his son would know his name. He prays that one day his son in France might also find him online after hearing of this story.
There is hope…something that many of us, who were adopted can relate to, to meet their birth family. It does not mean that all are even wanting to search, some like Frank Pittser did not think about searching until after his Adoptive Mother passed. She left him with clues that led to an AmazingReunionStory and reunion 50 years later! Wow, it can happen…but sadly for the huge majority of us, it may never happen.
For those who will never make connection with their birth family we must “deal with it” in any way we can. Yes, we have to Suck it Up, move on and endure life. The KWB had given up, after trying to get ‘on air’ for 14 years finally he got a chance. But there has been no response since, the Post-Search Blues are strong, yet he does not give up hope. Most important we must support each other, “Suck it up”- means to stop just whining and ENDURE, moving onward.
Going Beyond ‘Whining/Bitching’
Whining about something is not the same as ‘bitching’ by the way. Whining is pitiful and almost helpless…to Bitch about things is to strongly want or demand change. However, one must goes beyond just TALKING about things but DOING something. The KWB does not take issue with those who bring up wrongs, bad policies, complaints, etc in a manner that is to expose them. This is why he supports TRACK and ASK, but not 100% of their ideas or policies. He does not blame “Adoption” as an evil thing, rather just an option among many.
Some folks ‘whine and bitch’ about ‘being taken from their culture, language, family, country’ BUT we must go to the root of the issues. In the vast majority of cases the reasons of why a child was relinquished has nothing to do with “Korea being the 11th or 12th economic country”. This falls on deaf ears! Yes, in the past some could surmise that the reasons were because the Korean mother/family were poor, but that is NOT the main or only reason.
When you review the history of Korean Adoptions there were many reasons for relinquishment, such as “too many daughters”, divorce or abandoned by father ‘forces’ mother to give up children, or just plain simply the young woman cannot raise her child with NO support from her parents/birth father, lack of support from Government and social rejection.
Who can put the blame only on our mothers? Certainly not the KWB, who does not hold her guilty, rather the social “Traditions taught by Confucius” that allow only blood relatives to be adopted. The Neo-Confucian era also reduced women to second class status and Korean people still prefer sons though that is SLOWLY changing. We must work together to educate the Korean people, hoping that they change, and as US President Obama has discovered “Change comes only after a lot of hard work”.
Can we agree where we can agree, respect each other where we differ, but work together to sort it all out in “This Thing of Ours-Adoption”. The Korean War Baby Hopes for Change to come.
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