Article March 25, 2002 Issue

Through a spiritual lens—

FRIEND OR FOE?

Gordon N. Converse

Coastal village, Vietnam, 1969

A bush pilot was willing to fly the reporter and me north and drop us for a few days in the center of a small Vietnamese town—a town, we were told, that had been completely surrounded by Viet Cong guerrillas, but had never been disturbed.

Our stay was strange indeed. We never knew who could be the enemy. Fighting was taking place in a number of areas around us, but in the town itself all seemed peaceful.

On a beautiful white sandy beach near the edge of town, I came across a net mender who appeared completely untouched by signs of war. As I photographed him serenely at work, I found myself wondering if he might be a peaceful citizen by day and an active terrorist by night. In Vietnam, one never really knew.

Gordon N. Converse
Former Chief Photographer, The Christian Science Monitor
All Mankind—Photographs From The Christian Science Monitor
The Christian Science Publishing Society, 1983