Officials should not set a bad example.

Recently, on social networks, there has been a lot of information and video clips circulating about street fights and arguments stemming from collisions, bad behavior in public places or related to traffic order...

It is worth mentioning that from those seemingly small, "nothing" incidents, but due to the lack of restraint and improper behavior of the "subjects" have led to unfortunate consequences, seriously causing injuries, property damage, and lightly leaving a bad image and public opinion in social life.

What is more worth mentioning is that such abnormal behavior is not limited to young people with "green and red hair", but recently has spread to the class considered to have a cultural and educational background, even to people with social status.

Although I don't want to bring up old stories, I think it's necessary to mention the case of a department-level official "picking cherry blossoms to take pictures" in the Tuyen Lam Lake area, Da Lat; two female teachers, the principal and vice principal of a primary school in Hanoi, accidentally hitting a student in a taxi in the school but claiming they didn't know; and recently, a retired general arguing with the traffic police or a district-level official parking his car in the wrong place to have lunch, causing public outrage...

Right or wrong in these cases has been decided by the management agencies of those officials and the competent authorities. Here, we need to discuss more about the behavior of officials in daily life.

Karl Marx once said that human nature is the sum of social relationships. To put it simply and easily, in life, each person plays many roles: at work, they are employees, they are bosses; at home, they are children of their parents, and at the same time, they are parents of their children; and when going out into the community, they are people of society as citizens subject to the regulation of laws, rules, regulations, standards... both specific and conventional. The important thing is to perceive and act correctly in each specific relationship.

As for officials, their daily conduct must not only fulfill their duties as citizens but also set an example for society. Therefore, they must also act as “public figures”, because all their words, gestures, and actions are scrutinized by society and create effects (both positive and negative) that spread very quickly.

Returning to recent stories, it is easy to see that they are all small things, not worth making such a fuss if the officers in the story as mentioned above had behaved in a civilized, proper, and respectful manner. It is a repentance, an apology for accidentally breaking a flower branch in public, compliance and listening and then calmly explaining when the traffic police signal to stop the vehicle, or even simply stopping the vehicle when reminded so that "you can see me and see others"... And if so, the big thing will become small, the small thing will become nothing, and no one will even know where it is.

However, it is also easy to see in the above incidents that no one wants to look back at their own behavior and courageously admit their mistakes, but instead blame others. There is even an aggressive, domineering attitude, wanting to show authority with the attitude that "the right always belongs to me".

Fortunately or unfortunately, with the development of information technology, any behavior of anyone can be recorded and just a few seconds later can appear on the internet, everything is exposed for the public to judge. The consequences are obvious, not knowing whether the incident is right or wrong, but the offensive behaviors posted on the internet first affect the individual and reputation of the official, then affect the agency, locality where the official works and more dangerously, directly affect the reputation of the organization, agency or unit. Many people realize the consequences and repent, it is too late. Western proverb says: "The mouth of the world is like the waves of the sea"; and our grandparents also taught: "A hundred years of stone stele will wear away / A thousand years of oral stele will still be there".

During his lifetime, President Ho Chi Minh repeatedly reminded cadres and party members to always be exemplary pioneers, clearly demonstrating the spirit of "party members go first, the country follows", "setting a standard for others to follow" in every action and work. The exemplary role of cadres is not only in the office, only in work but also and especially in law enforcement and in every word and behavior in daily life. Because, the people always look at the Party and the government through specific people, specific cadres and party members with their daily actions and behaviors.

Therefore, as a cadre, you must set an example, but set a good example, not a bad one.

According to News/VNA