Trang Ha: Because you still have tomorrow

(Baonghean) -We have not learned how to live well so we cannot learn how to die well?

1.On Sunday morning, May 22, the national election, there were people who never completed their civic journey that day. The reason was simple: They burned to death in Binh Thuan, at 4am, on two fateful buses. One was heading to Ho Chi Minh City, and the other had just left that place a few hours earlier.

The shocking deaths came out of nowhere. The press said that the fault was the two thieves on the motorbike that caused the disaster. Some reports said that the fault was the one of the bus driver who was overtaking recklessly. Another reported that if there had been an “eel” to separate the lanes on the highway, the accident would never have happened.

Those people, that morning, would peacefully go to vote in the local elections, where they arrived safely, arrived safely, and returned safely. Those deaths were actually predicted in the annual statistics on traffic safety. Whether Vietnam is a peaceful land or not, let's look at these figures:

Just Tet holiday, but 400 traffic accidents, 300 deaths. Is that “modest” number true, when doctors reported that they had to receive nearly 50,000 people with traffic accidents during Tet! Just “traumatic brain injury” alone was more than half a thousand people!

Life is so fragile but how do we live?

Illustration: Nam Phong

2.I was haunted by a short news story in the newspaper, just a few years ago, about a poor female student, after arguing with her lover, riding her bike to Ben Thuy bridge, jumping into Lam river and committing suicide at the age of 19.

The lover still left Ben Thuy bridge to go home, still living the life of a man. Maybe later when he gets married and has children, his wedding photo will be very beautiful to hang in the house.

Was the death of the poor girl a punishment for herself? Or for this life, when there are already enough disasters, how many sins do people still carry in the life of a girl, not knowing how many times of joy there is also one time of unjust sadness?

Every week there are people who commit suicide. They take their children to death, make their wives die with them, or even get divorced and then turn around and commit suicide by hugging a landmine.

What have we invested in our lives? Half-baked personalities, unfulfilled dreams that only make our present lives more miserable, and meaningless relationships that do not support our lives but only push us faster into the abyss of darkness?

I remember a story a Taiwanese writer told about the Vietnam War. He said there was a Vietnamese mother who fell down when she was hit by an American soldier’s bullet. But because she was holding her child in her arms, when she died, the mother fell very lightly. And the Taiwanese writer cried every time he remembered that image of death.

A kind person, after reading a good book, may leave it in a public place, hoping that many other people will accidentally read it.

A kind person, if he drops a sandal on the train, instead of cursing his own clumsiness, will throw the other sandal on the road. In the hope that the passerby who picks it up will have the whole pair to use again!

Many kind people, even though they are young, have signed a petition to voluntarily donate their bodies and organs, so that even with all the uncertainties in life, they can continue to be useful to humanity, to those who are still alive!

So, is it possible that because we have not learned how to live a decent life, we have not learned how to die a decent death?

3.In 2014, I was a communications consultant for a foreign company with a branch in Vietnam. Their clients were thousands of taxi drivers across the country and tens of thousands of female workers in industrial zones. They told me:

- Call to stop at a red light, no one will stop if they don't see the police standing there.

- Popularizing traffic laws, everyone knows but when leaving the discussion and going to the parking lot, they still refuse to wear helmets.

- Hiring comedians for media purposes has very little effect. Everyone comes to listen to comedians, but after laughing and taking selfies, their perceptions don't change!

- Assessing the implementation of traffic safety assurance and including it in salaries and bonuses, the businesses themselves say it is difficult!

That year, there was a consulting campaign “Because you still have tomorrow…” at street intersections, in workers’ canteens, at dusty taxi stands, on free beautiful shirts, on the hands of hot girls walking on the pedestrian lane every time the traffic lights turn red… I wonder if it changed anyone’s habit of wearing helmets and obeying traffic safety?

Because after all, on the road, we communicate with each other not with human language, but with horns and car lights!

The story of “fear of the law” is not about the law, but about reinforcing behavior. And more deeply, it is about cherishing life! Once you consider your life worthless, you will live as if there is no tomorrow! You will consider encroaching on a square meter of asphalt or going three seconds ahead of the red light as the purpose of living today!

But if you believe, how many wonderful things are there to do tomorrow, how many people behind the family door need you to live, and come back home?

4.I recall all these feelings about life and death, when today the newspapers are full of bad news about traffic accidents.

The most precious thing we have is life, but it must be a life that is respected and valuable to family and society, not just a life that simply has delicious food and nice clothes. Delicious food is like a bag of rice in the stomach, and stylish clothes are like an expensive hanger. “The price of a clothes hanger is like a bag of rice” has always been a harsh scolding for those who live useless lives to others.

Managing life is not just about making a lot of money, finding a lot of things to do throughout life. Managing life is also about managing emotions, regulating conflicting relationships, equipping yourself with an optimistic spirit and a healthy body, and also anticipating possibilities in life, so that we are always proactive and at ease.

Should we live so hastily that we never stop and ask ourselves: On this land, those who have lived and those who have died, they are all great masters of life, they teach us to cherish ourselves. Give us responsibility for our family and ourselves.

Otherwise, would you just read shocking news about disasters as if it were a showbiz spectacle?

Trang Ha