Picture of the day - July 17, 2008

A beautiful sunrise in Vietnam

Photo courtesy of Michael Dingle. God blessed the people of the southeast Asian nation of Vietnam with one of the most beautiful places on the planet to live, and today's picture by photographer Michael Dingle of the sun rising over the South China Sea paints a serene image of a land that could easily be mistaken for an earthly paradise. But unfortunately, such is not the case. During much of the latter half of the 20th century, Vietnam and its immediate neighbors endured a long period of uprisings and war that had the region geographically and politically torn apart. Although the strife is now over for the most part, the region and its people bear scars that will take many generations to fade away, if in fact they ever fade away at all. History has proven that when we humans are presented with a set of choices, we have a tendency to choose the wrong one. Worse still, our pride often gets in the way of admitting and rectifying our mistakes. When given the opportunity to avoid the dark plague of communism, the Vietnamese people instead chose to embrace it. Over 58,000 American lives were lost in the region's jungles, villages and rice paddies in a vain attempt to give them a chance at freedom, but to no avail. As a result, most of them are living under conditions today that are a far cry from those one would expect to find in such a beautiful country. Our wonderful planet has a plethora of places where the stunning natural beauty clashes terribly with the harsh reality of the impoverished lifestyles of the people who live there. But as this picture clearly shows, each of us is free to enjoy the beauty that our Creator bestows upon us each and every day of our lives. The rest is up to us.     Visitor Comments... Name: Phyllis Helton Town: Bristol, VA Lovely photo...astute sentiments...   Click here to comment on this picture.   Visit the POTD Archives for previous "Pictures Of The Day"!     Submit a photo of your own!                                 Place the "Picture of the Day" on your website, for free! Why I publish the "Picture of the Day"