New "internal invaders"

(Baonghean) - At the end of the first month of 2015, there was very unhappy news, on the contrary, full of pain and sorrow. That is, in January, the whole country had 2,169 traffic accidents, killing 781 people and injuring 2,047 people. Easy death, many deaths, unexpected and painful.

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Those numbers clearly show that all the accident reduction measures that the competent authorities have put forward in the past, although effective, are not very effective. And the main thing is that our people's awareness when participating in traffic is still nowhere and nowhere. Propaganda and mobilization by all forms and means, and even putting them into curriculums and schools for teaching, have not changed much. It seems that there needs to be some new and stronger innovations that can change the situation. Some people have proposed the idea that traffic accidents should be considered a type of enemy. It sounds very reasonable. Because, evil enemies, such as international terrorism, also kill and injure many people, of course not as many as traffic accidents in our country. Traffic accidents are the same, killing and injuring many people, no different. So if we consider them a type of enemy, it is not lame and... unjust at all.

On the contrary, it also raised the will of the entire people in destroying this new type of enemy. Moreover, our people's beautiful tradition is to always be of one mind, unanimous, and united in fighting until the final victory. "Fight even if we have only the hem of our pants left"! Thanks to that, in ancient, modern and modern history, we have defeated countless foreign invaders. This is recognized by the whole world. Remember, after the success of the August Revolution (1945), our country became an independent country. The young revolutionary government of our country was born in a situation of "a thousand pounds hanging by a thread" with both "internal and external enemies" and rampant famine, and a depleted treasury. In order to unite the entire people, to raise the determination of the people of the whole country, President Ho Chi Minh, at that time as the head of the provisional revolutionary government, listed poverty as a dangerous enemy like foreign invaders.

According to him: "The country has gained independence and freedom but the people are still poor and miserable, then independence and freedom are useless." In the first meeting of the Government on September 3, 1945, he raised 6 urgent issues, of which famine relief was one of the 6 most urgent tasks. He said: "The people are starving... More than two million of our compatriots have starved to death because of this cruel policy... Those who escaped starvation are now also hungry. We must find a way to help them live." He proposed a solution: "I propose to the Government to launch a campaign to increase production... I propose to open a fundraiser. Every ten days, all of our compatriots will fast for one meal. The saved rice will be collected and distributed to the poor." He initiated, proposed and set an example in implementing the famine relief rice jar movement, with the noble gesture of fasting for one meal a week, along with the "Golden Week" movement. Responding to Uncle Ho's call, in all localities across the country, the Viet Minh Front and national salvation organizations mobilized people to respond to the call. On the one hand, they increased production, on the other hand, they launched donation movements, organized "united hearts day", "rice jars to relieve hunger"... widely in localities across the country.

Thanks to that, only 3 months after the founding of the country, the famine was pushed back. Before the August Revolution, more than 95% of our people were illiterate. To quickly eliminate illiteracy for the people, the Government issued a decree to establish the Department of Popular Education (BDHV) and decided to establish evening classes for farmers and workers. Learning the national language was compulsory and free for everyone. Within a year, all Vietnamese people over 8 years old had to know how to read and write the national language. Along with that, President Ho Chi Minh called on the people to make efforts to "destroy the enemy of illiteracy". The fact that ignorance is an enemy quickly permeated the minds of all people, awakening national pride, arousing high determination and clearly seeing their responsibility that within just one year, everyone must know how to read and write the national language.

Families with spacious houses opened private classes for neighbors. Many monks and priests lent pagodas and churches to use as classrooms. Doors and mats were used to spread on the ground for students to sit in. Classes were everywhere, at noon, in the afternoon, and in the evening. Classes had many teachers, one teacher and one student. The words were written on blackboards, hung on bamboo clumps, banana bushes, and pond banks for people to study. To enhance and promote learning, the practice of asking for words was established. Those who could read the words written on blackboards erected next to ferry piers, village gates, and market gates were allowed to go through a beautifully decorated gate called the “Gate of Glory” to enter the market, cross the river, and return to the village. After only one year, more than 10% of the population out of a total of 22 million people had escaped illiteracy. A few years later, most people knew how to read and write. That success probably came from turning things that needed to be eliminated and permanently erased into a kind of enemy. Thereby, uniting the whole people, unifying will and action to achieve the set goals.

Learning from that experience, perhaps we should also consider traffic accidents as a type of enemy that needs to be eradicated from the root, as we have done with “hunger” and “ignorance” so that the whole people can unite to destroy this new and very dangerous enemy. Should we consider traffic accidents as a new type of internal invader?!

Buddha Mountain