Dear Teachers,

When I made Regret to Inform, I wanted to transform my husband¹s death into as powerful a statement against war as I could make. Regret to Inform uses the stories of widows of the Vietnam War to convey its message, but the film is about all war everywhere. Regret to Inform shows war¹s impact on everyday people‹people who are just trying to live their lives‹who become war¹s primary victims. With war, innocent people like those in the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, in the villages and towns of Afghanistan, as in the Vietnamese cities and countryside, suffer war¹s devastating effects.

I was in New York on September 11. A striking image that remains is of people combing through the rubble, just as they combed through the rubble in Vietnam and are now combing through the rubble in Afghanistan. What are they looking for? What do people in any country, regardless of race or religion, have to gain from war? What do they have to lose? How will the decisions we make now affect us for years, even generations, to come? What is the legacy of war?

In this supplement to the Teaching Guide to Regret to Inform, we suggest ways that the film can be used to raise difficult yet extremely important issues of war and peace in the classroom. Through the stories of the women in the film, we bring the war to the human level so that we can help students to understand what war really means.

Sincerely,

Barbara Sonneborn

Relevant Quotes for Discussion

Phan Ngoc Dung: "Of course, in the United States, sisters, mothers and wives also feel pain when children and husbands are lost in war. But we lived in the country where the war was going on. The death and destruction was so horrible, so painful. We hope that there will never be war again, not anywhereŠ"

Norma Banks: "It isn¹t just the war is here and it¹s over. The war starts when it ends."

Barbara Sonneborn: "I remember before Jeff left, we talked about how afraid I was that he would get killed. We never talked about the fact that he would have to kill people, maybe even a child. I realized we hadn¹t ever talked honestly about what war means."

Connections / Further Ideas

War¹s Effects on Women: How were Vietnamese and American women affected by the Vietnam War? What is the situation like for women in Afghanistan? How has the war impacted their lives?

The American Flag: When Barbara Sonneborn¹s husband, Jeff, was killed, his coffin was returned to the family wrapped in an American flag. Since September 11, we see images of the flag everywhere. What might the flag represent to different groups of people? Ask students to discuss the relationship between patriotism and supporting the war with Afghanistan.

Everyday People: The film asks us to think about the people in Vietnam. What do students know about Afghanistan? Ask them to consider Afghanistan¹s physical location on a map for ideas. What did they know about Afghanistan before September 11?

Refugees: In the film, Xuan Ngoc Nguyen, a Vietnamese woman now living in the United States, discusses ways that the war has lived on, even in her new country. What is the legacy of war already in Afghanistan, and how are we contributing to it? What types of things (e.g. landmines) make war¹s effects last longer? What is life like for children affected by war? What are some of the ways that children suffer due to war?

Media Literacy: Regret to Inform looks at war from different sides. Discuss the role of the media in times of war and armed conflict. What was the role of the media during the Vietnam War? Ask students to look at newspapers to determine whether the media supports the war or not. Do they hear opinions represented from all sides? What types of stories appear frequently? What types of stories are missing? Ask students to consider both the viewpoints expressed as well as who is speaking. What is the impact of a television network¹s decisions to show footage of the World Trade Center explosions juxtaposed with footage of the bombing in Afghanistan?

Public Relations: How has our recent situation been packaged by the media? What types of expressions do we hear often (e.g. America Under Attack, Enduring Freedom, etc.)? How do these slogans impact our thinking about the war?

Naming the Conflict: In Regret to Inform, Barbara Sonneborn says, "In Vietnam, they call it the American War." What might the people of Afghanistan call our "war on terrorism?"

Dialogue Poem: On pages 18-19 of the Teaching Guide, women from Chile engage in a dialogue. Ask students to read the poem, "Two Women." After reading the poem, have them write a dialogue poem between American children and Afghan children. What might they say to each other?

Excellent further suggestions for teaching about September 11 are available on the Rethinking Schools website.

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