"The Vietnamese army goes..."

(Baonghean) -When I was in high school, my French friends once asked me this: "Is it true that in Vietnam, school discipline follows the military discipline model, with weekly gatherings, flag salutes, singing the national anthem, and a drum ceremonial team?". I calmly nodded, and they stuck out their tongues in surprise. They asked again: So you must know your country's national anthem by heart? I nodded again. I don't know what song it is, but the national anthem is... The Vietnamese army marches, united in saving the country!

Why are the French surprised to know that the National Anthem is a song that all Vietnamese people know by heart, because many French people cannot sing the French National Anthem. The first reason, very objective, is because the song "La Marseillaise" is extremely... long. The second reason is that French schools do not... salute the flag, where do students get the opportunity to sing and know the national anthem? Perhaps the only one who knows and sings the national anthem best in France is the bald Zidane and his teammates! The history teacher heard our conversation and interjected, saying this: "Vietnamese people in particular and Asians in general have an extremely great sense of national pride, perhaps partly due to their tragic history, partly due to their awareness of training and nurturing nationalism, turning an abstract concept like patriotism into something inevitable, expressed through very simple things like singing the national anthem..."

After listening to the teacher, I burst out: ah, that is patriotism. When I was still sitting in school, wearing a cap, a red scarf, looking up at the red flag with a yellow star fluttering and singing "The Vietnamese army goes...", I never thought that those actions that had become routines and habits would have such great meaning. I used to laugh to myself when I saw my French friends being terrified of these "military rituals", but thinking back, could it be that I was the one who looked at things through a minimalist perspective, not because I took them lightly but because people don't often have an objective view of things that are too close, too familiar? It wasn't until now, standing alone among thousands of strange skin colors and languages, looking up at the red flag with a yellow star fluttering next to foreign flags in this schoolyard, humming the lyrics that have become flesh and blood, that I realized the power that the song brought was unimaginable. When the lyrics were sung, it seemed as if I saw the old schoolyard again, with endless green caps, red scarves like the flag, the color of blood, this afternoon in the schoolyard I was alone, but why did my singing seem to touch several layers of the sky? Or did my singing echo back to several layers of the nation's tragic yet heroic history? Was it just me singing alone, but with such intensity? Was it just me or was it the entire "Vietnamese Army..."?

Then one morning, you, my children, will surely feel lost and strange when singing the same lyrics, not from your heart but from an emotionless tape or disc. As if in that ceremony, we are not members but only guests, riding horses to see the flowers. My children, my children, patriotism must be cultivated and built by ourselves, just like our parents, we must respect and love ourselves, because no one can love us for us, love us for us? Perhaps you will naively ask again: What is patriotism? Patriotism, if defined with beautiful, poetic words, will become empty. Patriotism is loving from the smallest things, loving, even when that small thing is just a song...

If you want to love your country, you have to learn. When we were young, we learned to love our country like we learned to sing the National Anthem, and learning goes hand in hand with practice. When we grow up, we have to practice and review that first lesson even more, because it is a lesson that is exchanged for blood, bones and national pride. That means not only students sing the National Anthem, but civil servants also have to sing the National Anthem instead of playing pre-recorded tapes or discs. Ready-to-eat foods are often harmful, eating too much canned food lacks nutrients, instant noodles are bad for the liver and kidneys, and pre-recorded National Anthems erode patriotism and national pride. So before shouting and encouraging patriotism, take a few minutes to sing the last verses yourself: "Forward, forward together! Our Vietnamese nation is strong and lasting!"

Hai Trieu

(Email from Paris)