Dear Brothers and Sisters,

Your family is poor, what do you do?

I imagine many of you will say, “I will study hard and will work my butt off to make a lot of money for my family.”

That’s right. I can’t imagine the other answer: “Well, a king’s child will be a king, a monk’s child in pagoda will sweep banyan leaves.” (Con vua thì lại làm vua, con sãi ở chùa thì quét lá đa). Sometimes you may meet some negative people like that, but I imagine the majority of people will positively say they will work hard to lift their family up in the world.

That is the love for our family. Each of us loves our family and would do anything to support the family and lift it up – lifting everyone in the family up.

That’s for the small family. Each of us also has a big family – that is our land and water of the children of the Dragon and Fairy (đất nước của con cái Rồng Tiên).

Have you ever thought of your country as your family, with all the love and feeling you have for your family?

I have had that feeling for the country as my family since 8 or 9, as far as my memory can recall now. So, I am talking about an absolute truth, not something I imagine just to write Tea Talk (trà đàm)

If you love your country and your đồng bào (chung bao – brothers and sisters from Mother Âu Cơ’s one bag of eggs), then the poorer and more problematic your country is, the more determined are you to work your butt off to raise the country up high in the world.

Brothers and Sisters, the first historical legend of Lạc Long Quân and Âu Cơ is not just a fairytale, but is a fundamental philosophy of the Vietnamese culture: We are a family of brothers and sisters chung bao (from one bag).

So, as you see the problems and weaknesses of the country, don’t complain. Instead, work your rear off to lift the country up. That the rule in the family.

Wish that we all work together well to raise the country up.

With compassion,

Hoành

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