Officials should not set a bad example.

Recently, on social networks, there has been a lot of information and video clips 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, "nowhere" incidents, due to the lack of restraint and improper behavior of the "subjects" have led to unfortunate consequences, seriously causing injuries and property damage, and lightly leaving a bad image and public opinion in social life.

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

Although we do not want to bring up old stories, we think it is 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 who are the principal and vice principal of a primary school in Hanoi, riding a taxi and accidentally hitting a student in the school but claiming they did not know; and recently, the case of 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 will be 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, bosses; at home, they are children of their parents, and at the same time, parents of their children; and when going out into the community, they are people of society as citizens subject to laws, rules, regulations, and standards, both specific and conventional. The important thing is to be aware of and act appropriately in each specific relationship.

As for officials, their behavior in daily life must not only fulfill the duties of a citizen but also set an example for society. Therefore, they must also act as “public figures”, because their every word, gesture, and action is scrutinized by society and creates effects (both positive and negative) that spread very quickly.

Returning to recent stories, it is easy to see that they are all small matters, not worth making such a fuss about if the officers in the story as mentioned above had behaved in a civilized, proper, and respectful manner. It was a repentance, an apology for accidentally breaking a flower branch in public, it was compliance and listening and then calmly explaining when the traffic police signaled to stop the vehicle, or even simply stopping the vehicle when reminded so that "you can see me and see them"... 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 online, 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 online 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. There is a Western proverb: "The mouth of the world is like the waves of the sea"; and our grandparents also taught: "A hundred years of stone steles will wear away/ A thousand years of oral steles will still stand."

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 an example for others to follow” in every action and deed. 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 action 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