Whatever profession you pursue, that's what you make a living from!

(Baonghean)Our Mr. Nghe had a saying: "Whatever trade you do, you earn your living from it!" That's why there are these rhymes: "Tailors eat rags / Sewing machine operators eat glue / Basket makers eat bamboo strips / Welders eat... iron dung."

But thinking about it carefully, it's true! Because so many scandals have occurred recently, causing nationwide uproar and immeasurable harm, all related to the habit and mindset of "profiting from one's profession." The first and biggest issue was the case of the Vinashin and Vinalines leaders exploiting their professions to import old ships at cheap prices, then inflating the price by hundreds of times to embezzle state funds, enriching themselves, and supporting mistresses and illegitimate children. The second biggest issue was the case of bank officials and employees using professional tricks and schemes learned from school and from life experience to siphon off thousands of billions of dong from the very banks they worked for.

Those are the most outrageous incidents, happening only once in a while. But the smaller things happen more frequently. For example, on the street, you occasionally see traffic police officers waving their batons to stop vehicles for a "thorough" inspection lasting a few dozen seconds, then pocketing the money from the drivers. Or when you're sick and go to the hospital, if you want to be examined quickly and thoroughly, or want a quick and painless injection, you have to slip an envelope into the pockets of those in white coats. In short, almost everyone, wherever they are and whatever their profession, tries to use, or rather exploit, their professional advantages for personal gain.

Therefore, please don't be too surprised, too worried, or confused whenever there's a situation where people cut down, burn, and destroy forests, devastating five or seven hectares at once, and everyone knows about it, but the forest rangers just keep pretending not to hear, not to know, not to see. It's really hard to explain! The main and fundamental function and duty of the forest rangers is to protect the forests from human destruction, and the people pay taxes for the State to pay their salaries to do exactly that. Yet, whenever deforestation occurs, the same refrain rings out: "We don't know! Is that really happening?" Because of this, many people suspect that they truly "don't know" or "they know but remain silent. And they act as if they don't know"?

As for why they behaved that way, there isn't enough evidence to draw a conclusion about the true nature of the situation. So, I can only assume it's simply a case of "what you do for a living"!

Artisan