TRUST THE WORD
“Stop judging and you will not be judged. Stop condemning and you will not be condemned. Forgive and you will be forgiven.” - Lk 6:37
My dad was a 5’5 scrawny South Vietnamese soldier during the Vietnam war. My sisters and I grew up with him telling tales of his adventures and the people he met. My maternal grandfather advised us to take his words with a grain of salt as my dad had a history of telling tall tales. According to grandpa, dad was a non-combat officer. What interesting things or danger could he have seen?
The first time I watched Big Fish, I immediately thought of my father. My sisters and I ended up watching it together reliving all the stories we were told growing up. They were fantastic tales of make-belief. He told us stories of rescuing indigenous people in the jungle and living among them as part of the family. He told stories of interesting people he met, sites that he had seen, and wild animals he tamed. We didn’t believe any of it, but we listened and followed along as if he was telling fairy tales.
In our 20’s while having lunch, a man recognized dad and greeted him with much enthusiasm. They hadn’t seen each other in over 25 years. The man told us dad’s heroic tales as a young man in the war. The father we assumed was just a paper pusher really did live some of the tales he told.
We looked at dad differently after that day. I learned from him. He told tales knowing we didn’t believe. He didn’t care to convince us and never judged or condemned us for doubting him. He knew his truth and stuck by it. I learned to take others at their word and believe in the possibility.
Kath Tran