Dear brothers and sisters,

Work ethic (đạo đức lao động) is our belief that work is good for us – it strengthens our character, gives us wisdom, enhances our integrity, and bring us success.

This thinking has not been universal throughout history. In ancient Greek culture, work was seen as a burden – the word for “work” is “ponos,” equivalent of the Latin word “poena,” meaning sorrow. In ancient Jewish culture, in The Old Testament – the first half of the Christian Bible – work is called “toil/toiling,” indicating hard, tiring labor. In The Genesis – the first book of The Old Testament – after Adam & Eve ate the Forbidden Fruit, God kicked them out of the Eden Garden and told Adam: “Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat food from it all the days of your life.” (Gen 3:17). In the Vietnamese culture, what valuable is “nhàn” (leisure) as Nguyễn Công Trứ wrote in his archetypal poem “Chữ Nhàn.” And the Buddhist culture focuses on not working too hard, relaxing more. Continue reading Work ethic →

Dear brothers and sisters,

For the last 60 years, the word “loyalty – trung thành” probably is the least heard word in the Vietnamese culture. For a long time now, loyalty is considered a bad word. I have heard people explain that loyalty is a Confucian idea, used by the powerful to force the powerless to be loyal, so it is an oudated and evil idea, which must be erased.

So, do you know what has happened in the last 60 years in the Vietnamese culture? Continue reading Loyalty →

Dear brothers and sisters,

That is a very common story – people often say and hear: “I’m looking for myself,” or “I have to find myself,” as if the speaker is completely lost from himself, or he has dropped his self somewhere on the long road of life.

Funny as it may sound, the feeling of not knowing who we truly are – “where is the real me?” – is a familiar feeling in many of us.

But why? What generates that feeling? Continue reading I’m looking for myself →