As a foreigner, I am one of those strange creatures from a distant planet, walking enigmas who evoke a panoply of emotions, ranging from interest and curiosity to indifference, contempt, and fear. As outsiders, we are sources of income, role models, fonts of wisdom, bearers of all things good, easy marks, and importers of evil trends and tendencies. 

Our “beauty” lies in the eyes of the beholder: multifaceted and, at times, schizophrenic. Sometimes, they love us, sometimes they love us not, often with good reason, based on past experience or collective memory.  

This is what I wrote in a 2019 essay entitled On the outside looking in: A US American in Vietnam also published in Vietnamese. Here’s another “role” or “use,” namely that of boogeyman for naughty Vietnamese children. Here’s how it works. Parents will point to a nearby foreigner, Ông Tây (Mr. Foreigner), in my case, and tell their children to behave themselves or else. It’s the notion that the strange and scary foreigner will get you if you’re a bad kid. So much for good PR for foreigners in a highly homogeneous society.

I hadn’t heard that in a long time but recently overheard a mother saying it to her (already well-behaved) son in an airport lounge. While I’m happy to be of service, I wish we (foreigners) were presented in a more positive light. We’re not all bad!

This is why I often smile and say hello to children. It may be their first interaction with foreigner and I want it to be a positive one. 😀

Peace, MAA