Thank you, Spring

(Baonghean)We are counting down the time to that sacred, long-awaited moment of New Year's Eve. And Spring, "like the beginning of a song...", will burst forth with harmony and reunion. Lighting an incense stick with tearful eyes at the ancestral altar, we express our gratitude to Earth, Heaven, and our forefathers. Heaven and Earth have given us the vibrant colors of spring, allowing us a new beginning. Our forefathers have made history, naming each village, mountain, and river, turning them into cherished memories for us today.

Thank you to the legend of the sticky rice cake (Banh Chung and Banh Day) for reminding us to be grateful for the rice grain. Thank you to Prince Lang Lieu for teaching us the lesson of filial piety. Thank you to Nguyen Hue for sending the peach blossom branch to Princess Ngoc Han, showing us that after swords and battles, after victories, a love still burns brightly. Thank you to the "First Spring" of the reunification of the two regions, as described by the author of the "National Anthem," a spring with "smoke rising over the river, roosters crowing at noon by the river," simple and peaceful, but achieved through countless battles and upheavals. Millions of Vietnamese people dreamed of that first spring, so that "from now on, people would know how to love each other"...

Family during Tet (Lunar New Year) - Photo: Dzũng Nguyễn

The old soldier recounted that his most memorable New Year's Eve was decades ago, in a deep, dark forest during the bombing raids. Amidst a bout of jungle malaria, he was moved to tears when he learned that the moment of midnight arrived from the sound of President Ho Chi Minh's poetry being recited through a small radio held close to his ear. At that moment, he believed in victory, believed that peace would come...

And the worker from the South recounted that on some Lunar New Year's Eve afternoons, he would rush to the train station just to hear the Nghe An accent and send his soul back to the North. Lacking enough money for a ticket, he would quietly return home as the last carriage of the train disappeared from view...

There are still so many memorable springs and New Year's Eves for soldiers on the front lines, for doctors on duty, for street guards, night watchmen, sanitation workers... who lack the joy of family reunion. But so that so many springs can be peaceful and joyful reunions in our homeland...

That's it, the spring of the nation and the spring of each individual's destiny. It will forever be a strong and enduring partnership. This beginning serves as a reminder that time never stands still, and each generation carries its own mission in life, both individually and collectively. Hardship, worries, struggles, and also the need to protect and support each other. Perhaps life hasn't been as we wished, perhaps the goals we strive for are still far away, but on the eve of spring, we still yearn to keep going...

At the very least, let's begin with renewed faith, like someone who has just passed through a sacred moment in the spring with a vibrant branch of spring blossoms in their hand!

Nghe An Weekend