Lost

At the end of the week, I would like to talk a little bit about the word "lost". It is said that, at a certain agency, one bad morning, an office worker ran into the chief's office, his tongue tied, and reported: "Sir, Mr. Bau is gone... gone... gone". As soon as the chief heard the bad news, his cheerful face suddenly turned pale, and his horizontal and vertical muscles became limp like a rice paper dipped in warm water. He sobbed: "Oh my God, Bau. How did this happen?". Then he immediately gave a series of golden instructions: "You notify all departments to stop all work and focus on taking care of the funeral. Assign the union to call on brothers to donate to support Comrade Bau's family in sudden difficulty. The administrative department will write me a eulogy, recounting many achievements and merits. A loyal man is loyal to his dead, no need to mention any shortcomings".

Hearing the chief's urgent instructions, the office boy explained: "But boss...". "No buts. The eulogy must include the sentence: Comrade Bau's passing means the agency has lost a loyal, dedicated, and excellent cadre; the family has lost an exemplary husband and father...". The chief continued to give specific and urgent instructions. "But boss, let me say something first." The chief nodded quickly: "Speak quickly." "Sir, I report that Bau's passing is the loss of his motorbike, but he is still alive." Hearing the office boy's explanation, the chief blushed, his horizontal and vertical muscles bulging, he jerked his chin and asked: "What? He lost his motorbike, not died? God, how can this Bau live so long?" Then the chief let out a sentence: "It turns out that losing does not necessarily mean death, and death does not necessarily mean losing"!

Lost, commonly understood as no longer existing. The character “Bầu” in the above gossip might lose his motorbike, the “sensitive” boss might lose the opportunity to read a cheap eulogy to buy tears, and the office boy might waste time on nonsense. Sometimes, the word lost is also used to express a certain regret, such as “It would be too late to ban drivers from drinking alcohol when the people’s intelligence changes”, “Those people met with voters and then forgot all about it”; sometimes it is used to describe an emotional state, such as “I miss Uncle Thang’s promise so much”, “I feel so sorry for the children whose points were stolen”, and then “Trang Ba Tan pretended to be so happy”, “Tom lobster is so scary”... for example.

There is a famous and often quoted saying: “Losing money is losing little, losing honor is losing much, but losing trust is losing everything”. Trust is the essential foundation for every relationship. However, money can be regained, honor can be regained, and trust can also be regained if you do not lose faith in yourself.

Life is sometimes a choice between loss and gain. These days, people are piloting a new Japanese technology to save the To Lich River. A river associated with history has turned into a giant sewage ditch. The gain is so small but the value we lose is a thousand times greater! If only Hanoi had the To Lich River with its clear blue water winding alongside the people of Trang An. I really want it, but it is also so far away. A click of the tongue in life can deprive us of a chance to grow up. A delay can lose our entire future. The story of the family of the drowned child who intended to take him to swimming lessons but hesitated is a heartbreaking example of delay. The loss is too great and the gain is a lesson that comes too late.

Gain and loss are like that, a "wood stick" in the "stove", maybe someone is happy because the criminal finally paid the price. The people's trust in the fight against corruption, or more broadly, the people's trust in the Party and the State, is revived. But if we say that there is only gain, it is not entirely true. Each person who gets caught up in the law is a family that loses happiness, a clan that loses pride, and the homeland loses a role model. Not only that, the organization loses a well-trained and tempered officer, trust can be damaged. The question: "If the Director of the High-Tech Crime Prevention Police Department also protects criminals gambling online, who can we trust now?" is an example. In the journey to regain trust through surgery, we cannot help but leave scars, no matter how rough. Try to limit the loss but also accept the loss, that is a message for everyone.

The trade war is entering its third intense phase. The complex developments beyond prediction have not only heightened the anxiety of the people of the two “warring” powers but also spread the risk across the globe. The ups and downs of the stock market are just the first ugly warning signs. Who gains and who loses, who wins and who loses is still an open question because this war seems to have no “final”. However, the winner cannot have it all and the loser never loses it all. The most important thing that remains is trust. People believe in the sincere efforts of both sides. People believe that a win-win agreement will be signed soon. And importantly, people believe that those leaders will not be so foolish as to trade the economic life of the nation for a momentary victory. No one bets a powerful economy on a risky gamble. A responsible person knows how to think of others. Smart people know how to find limits. The talent of a leader is the ability to read the loss to limit and eliminate in the journey to conquer the gain. If we have to lose, what to lose, how much to lose, and when to lose must be the least foolish calculations in each of our decisions.

Greed and constant selfishness have not only crushed or corroded integrity but also destroyed wisdom. Looking back at the shocking score theft case, we know. How could a tiny town in the highlands have more than ten university valedictorians? Just looking at that alone is enough to see the stupidity of those cheaters. "Eating secretly but not even wiping their mouths" is like that. The brazenness in the massive "score implantation" case in the northern provinces to create a humorous "academic level" like the recent one not only reflects the level of moral degradation, but worse, the level of awareness as well as the ability to judge the situation of those "pedagogues" is truly alarming. Honestly, with such stupid calculations and holding chalk to teach people, where will the future education of a part of our country's children be?

Remember the words of the leader at the beginning of the story: "Losing does not necessarily mean death, and death does not necessarily mean losing"! Someone just asked what the Ministry in charge lost in this score robbery? It's too difficult, perhaps it's still losing staff, still losing prestige, still losing trust, still losing honor! And if you ask what they got? I would say, it's still the same thing, the same thing they've gotten for the past ten years - learning from experience! Pity the hundreds of candidates from all over the country who lost their opportunities. Pity the parents of those who "had their scores taken away" and "lost face" forever. However, the most painful thing is still the teachers who got caught up in the law. In court, they not only lost money, honor or trust, but the most painful thing is losing their title as teachers, or as some retired teachers often joke, losing... teaching!