Professor and beauty queen talk about reading and doing charity work
On December 19, Professor Ngo Bao Chau and Miss Dang Thu Thao talked with book lovers about the boy with cancer in the professor's newly released translated book.
Explaining why she was present at the book launch event of Oscar and the Lady in Pink, and selling books to contribute to the fund for poor students in the highlands, Miss Dang Thu Thao confided about two coincidences.
The first coincidence, before reading the book about the last 12 days of Oscar's life in English, Thao copied the good quotes from the book to ponder from time to time. The content of the book helped Thao change the way she perceives values in life. "At that time, Thao wished that the book would be translated into Vietnamese so that many young Vietnamese people could access this meaningful story. Now, Professor Ngo Bao Chau and Khieu Anh have translated it," Miss Dang Thu Thao confided.
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| Miss Dang Thu Thao shares the "coincidental" reason that led her to the book introduction translated by Professor Ngo Bao Chau - Photo: Quy Hien |
“I always remember what the lady in pink said: There are pains that people have to accept, that is physical pain. But there are pains that people have the right to choose, whether to feel pain or not, that is mental pain. That is why the book is extremely meaningful to Thao.” (Miss Dang Thu Thao) |
The second coincidence is that Thao is also a person who likes to do charity work and has contributed a lot to the Poor Students in the Highlands Fund, of which Professor Ngo Bao Chau is the Honorary Chairman. Most recently, the Live to Love Fund, which Thao is the founder of, has supported the Poor Students in the Highlands Fund with 6 billion VND to build a school in Lung Luong, Thai Nguyen. Being introduced to book lovers a book whose proceeds from the sale will be used to help poor students is Miss Dang Thu Thao's wish.
In the following shares, Miss Dang Thu Thao expressed her admiration and affection for the main character of the book, the boy Oscar, a cancer patient living the last days of his life. “Oscar’s life reminds Thao of a famous person’s saying: We will die, but not everyone really lives. In this book, Oscar, even though he only lived for a dozen days, really lived. Each day that passed by with him in his imagination was wonderful, very suitable for our real life at each age. For example, at the age of 30, Oscar thought he was a married man, but did not want to have children because his wife was not ready… Because the book has many humorous details, Thao both laughed and cried while reading. Thao believes that many young people, after reading the book, will feel the same as Thao, will change their thinking about life, about relationships with people around them, especially family relationships, with people they love, and consider important,” Thu Thao shared.
Professor Ngo Bao Chau expressed his appreciation for the contrasting techniques that the author used in the book. For example, the bravery of the boy Oscar in facing death in a weak body. Or the role of a sage in a woman who does charity work (the woman in pink). Understanding the principles of life and death, the “sage” in pink (the color of the shirt that volunteers in French hospitals often wear) guided a boy’s life “back to God” on the path with the least suffering. “I see throughout this book the attitude of people towards death. When we are healthy, we cannot imagine what it will be like when we are sick, just as when we are alive, we cannot understand death. However, truly understanding and feeling the illness, pain, and death of others... is what truly makes a person human. From ancient times until now, that has been a matter of religion and philosophy. But the author of the book has found a way to talk about death from an accessible, gentle, and humorous perspective. That is the reason why I translated this book to introduce it to readers,” said Professor Ngo Bao Chau.
According to Thanh Nien