You are special

Submitted by trungdong on Tue, 2005-02-01 12:30
Gửi đến các bạn một bài viết khá hay về chúng ta của anh Huy hiện là Việt Kiều đang sinh sống ở Oxford. Đông.
QUOTE(huydanhduong@yahoo.com)
Dear All When you look at the other students and your colleagues around you, what do you see? Do you see them having fun, having sex (well, of course you don't literally see it), working hard, getting a good job, a house, a wife/husband, having children? These are the most normal things in the world, and they are wonderful things, and it is most natural and good that you do the same. However, look again at these students, let's take British students. Their country has hundreds of thousands of people with their level of education and ability. Each year, their univeristies and companies produce tens or hundreds of thousands more. So, they are not so rare. Their people are not poor. Their counry does not have to live with a giant dragon to the North. So, their country does not need them so much proportionately. Now, look at yourselves. What percentage of the Vietnamese population has the level of education that you do? How many does Vietnam produce each year? How many actually go back to Vietnam? So, you are very, very special and very, very rare. How rich are the people in Vietnam? How secure is their future? Not very. So, proportinately, Vietnam needs you more than Britain needs a typical British graduate. What does that mean? Of course you should have fun, have sex, work hard, get a good job, a good wife/husband, have a good home, bring up good children, for they are good and wonderful things in themselves, and they form the basis for your well-being and for a good life. But you should also be more than the typical British graduate, and you should be more than they typical person in Vietnam, because you are not typical, you are very, very special. And because Vietnam needs you more proportionately. I believe that whatever we do, whatever the limits of our abilities and circumstances are, wherever we are, whether we are Vietnamese citizens or overseas Vietnamese, whether we are male or female, your or old, we are especially privileged compared with most of our people. As such, A Good Life is not enough for us (I am not saying that it's not for us or we don't need it). Instead, the questions that are always with us are: What have I done for other Vietnamese? What can I do for other Vietnamese? The British graduates and the ordinary people in Vietnam have the luxury not to ask these questions, we don't. Huy [/quote] A question:
QUOTE(thaonguyen_univ@yahoo.co.uk)
Of course we are not the typical British or Vietnamese students.  But the question that bothers me is why  go back to help just the VietNamese people?  Surely there're poorer countries than VietNam and on principal we all share the world. [/quote] ... and the reply:
QUOTE(huydanhduong@yahoo.com)
Hi Thao Thanks for the question. First of all, let me clarify that I am not talking about "going back", but that the conept of doing something for Vietnam should be with us all our life, wherever we are. When I was a student, I joined the OU society JACARI. Each week I went to teach maths and physics to a boy from Pakistan. I also sponsored a child in Africa. So, I appreciate the principle of one humanity that you mantioned. It is a noble principle that we should try to follow. If you are in a good position to help people in a country whose GDP is less than 500 USD (ie less than Vietnam's GDP), the by all means do so, or to help anyone in need for that matter. However, the concept of the nation state still exists. Look at the US. Look at the most politically developed countries in the world in this respect: the EU countries. These countries have developed the furthest from the concept of the nation state, yet that concept is still alive and well for them. Look at China. Consider the world's response to the tsunami disaster. The spirit is very noble and it is what we should strive for. In 20 years of living in the UK, have have never felt so much respect and love for the British public, simply of their concern for the rest of humanity. However, it is almost certain that if 200,000 people were killed in Britain by a tsunami, the British government and the public would do even more. We can't get away from that (yet). The fact is even for countries that are highly developed in alll ways, the concept of the nation-state still exists. I don't think Vietnam has developed to the point where we can and should abandon the concept of the nation state yet. If there is a country that has lower GDP than Vietnam (500 USD), if you are in a position such that that country needs you as much as Vietnam needs you, then I think it's up to you. I don't think there is any "should" one way or the other. I think it is OK to help your country more than others as long as you respect the the principle that you should not help your country at the cost of injustice to others. Last but not least, I think, because we are Vietnamese, we are *in general* in a better position to do something for Vietnam than for us to do something for other countries. And we are *in general* in a better position to do something for Vietnam  for people from other countries to do something for Vietnam. Huy [/quote]

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