Mickey D's is Mending our Future

How has our country's past shaped the present?

Recently, I came across an article by the BBC about the first McDonald's restaurant location in Vietnam that just opened up yesterday. At first glance, it might seem odd that the opening of a new McDonald's would be news-worthy. I mean, there are McDonald's locations in over 100 countries all over the world (NY Times), so why would this one be any different?

Clearly, the reason was because of the new McDonald's location--Vietnam. Though the Vietnam War ended about 40 years ago, many people in the U.S. and Vietnam still have strong feelings about the extremely controversial war. I think the effects of the Vietnam War are the main reason Vietnam is "one of Asia’s last consumer markets with significant untapped potential." Though there are other U.S. businesses in Vietnam such as KFC and Burger King, I feel like the opening of a McDonald's, an American icon, symbolizes an improving relationship between the U.S. and Vietnam.

Personally, I think it is great to see the U.S. mending relations with Vietnam. I can imagine many Vietnamese people not wanting to have anything to do with the country that killed millions of innocent people in their country for basically no reason at all. However, it appears that Vietnam is no longer bitter at the U.S. One reason a NY Times article hints as the reason for the changing attitude of the Vietnamese people is the fact that "most of [Vietnam's] 90 million citizens were born after the Vietnam War ended." It seems that the Vietnamese people have decided to move on with life rather than dwell on the past. The Vietnam War was obviously a terrible mistake, but does the new McDonald's mean that all is forgiven?