View
If I Were a Better Person
on Facing Up to Lost Chances & Lingering Regrets
I was preparing for an online Vietnamese language class with a teacher in Saigon when my mind drifted and took me to Nha Trang, where I had been six weeks before. Overrun as that beach city was by Russian tourists, it was possible, briefly, to forget that I was in Vietnam. The Vladimir Putin t-shirts sold by street vendors added a curious touch. I wish I had bought one.
On a certain street, a middle-aged prostitute set up shop. I walked that way often. A few times she appeared beside me and described her services in rough terms. I wasn't in the least tempted, but, not wanting to be rude, I pointed to my ring and said, "I'm married." The third time around, she anticipated the response, grimaced, grumbled "I'm married," pinched my rear, and walked off.
THIS ARTICLE ONLY AVAILABLE TO SUBSCRIBERS.
FOR QUICK ACCESS:
Preston Jones teaches history at John Brown University.
Get six issues (one year) of Touchstone PLUS full online access including pdf downloads for only $39.95. That's only $3.34 per month!
Get a one-year full-access subscription to the Touchstone online archives for only $19.95. That's only $1.66 per month!
bulk subscriptions
Order Touchstone subscriptions in bulk and save $10 per sub! Each subscription includes 6 issues of Touchstone plus full online access to touchstonemag.com—including archives, videos, and pdf downloads of recent issues for only $29.95 each! Great for churches or study groups.
Transactions will be processed on a secure server.
more from the online archives
34.1—January/February 2021
Live Not by Lies: A Manual for Christian Dissidents by Rod Dreher by Hans Boersma
31.4—July/August 2018
on the Brevity & Theology of Her Recorded Words by Judith Anderson
32.2—March/April 2019
Flight from the Absolute: Cynical Observations on the Postmodern West, Volume II by Paul Gosselin by Louis Markos
calling all readers
Please Donate
"There are magazines worth reading but few worth saving . . . Touchstone is just such a magazine."
—Alice von Hildebrand
"Here we do not concede one square millimeter of territory to falsehood, folly, contemporary sentimentality, or fashion. We speak the truth, and let God be our judge. . . . Touchstone is the one committedly Christian conservative journal."
—Anthony Esolen, Touchstone senior editor
