Happiness is when we can accomplish all of our responsibilities,

WORKERS

After having a joyful and delicious dinner, the fathers went out to the yard, talking and smoking. The sons had exciting conversations in the corner. And the mothers just sat on the couch, chatting about all kinds of things.

Mrs. Liên talked about her son:
“He studies very well. Right after getting Bachelor’s degree, he is following the Master program now. He has yet to graduate, but already received attractive offers from various companies.”

Mrs. Xuân also talked about her son:
“He became an assistant film director as soon as he graduated from the School of Theater and Cinema. He has contributed to the success of many TV series recently. He has a very promising future ahead.”

Mrs. Thảo jumped in as well:
“My son worked for a foreign company immediately after returning home from overseas study.

And then, after just a few months, he was promoted to assistant director by his Belgian boss. He’s well admired and respected.”

“How about your son, sis Duyên?”

Mrs. Duyên smiled and said:
“My son graduated from an intermediate vocational school. He’s an electromechanical worker, working for a small shop near my house. He’s rather well-behaved.”
Then they continued their conversation and ignored Mrs. Duyên.

When all the guests left, Thủy’s parents had a talk with her.
“You know, this party was for you to choose your partner. Most of our friends want to marry you to their sons. Our families have been close for a long time and we have known each other very well. They have paid attention to you since you were a little girl. Everyone loves you because you’re kind and elegant. It leaked out that all of them have to scramble to have you, so we invited them all to join this party to have a cozy conversation, and let you choose your man by yourself. If you get married to one of those young men, the rest of our friends can’t blame us. You’ve heard them talk and you’ve seen the faces of their sons. Now, we want to know your opinion because it’s your life.”

Thủy kept quiet for a while, then said:
“Dad, Mom, in fact we have known each other since our friendship has been formed for a long time. Your arrangement was known. We’re all friends and we contact each other through phone or email regularly. Their parents expressed their intention to you, and those young men expressed their wish to me, too. But I always hit around the bush and never gave a firm answer. If Mom and Dad want to know my opinion, I can say that I highly appreciate Tùng, Mrs. Duyên’s son.”
Thủy’s mother was surprised.

“The one working in the electromechanical shop?”
“Yes. What’s wrong with him being a worker, Mom?”

“You should be aware of your future. You’re going to graduate with a master’s degree, while he’s a worker. How can you find agreement and happiness later in life? How can husband and wife understand each other while they have different education levels?”

“You might not know that only with my permission, Tùng could take the vocational school. And he had good reasons to convince me to say yes. He’s capable of getting a doctorate degree, but he has different thinking. He said the society needs more workers than managers. He supposed if he’s a worker now, he can be a good manager later. He wants to experience the role of workers so as to understand them more, because without their contribution, the society won’t have upper classes.

If everyone only wants to be managers, then society won’t have any solid foundation. A country’s development requires everyone to be good, especially workers. That’s why Tùng wants to know what limits workers, and what they can do to improve themselves. Tùng works as a worker, but his great concern for life is so aspirational. In contrast, the other guys only aim for a high salary and high status to satisfy their parents’ wishes.”

“Besides, Tùng is very profound in his behavior, and very kind-hearted. I can respect no one but Tùng.”
Thủy’s parents looked her in the eye. They knew what she meant.
Society is shaped like a pyramid. The higher society goes up, the less percentage of people it can serve. It needs fewer managers, but more workers. Ironically, people struggle to get to high positions, and ignore low positions; therefore, an unbalanced society is made.

We can use normal perspective to distinguish classes between people in the society. This person is of higher status than that person, and that person is richer than this person, etc.
However, from the perspective of morality, we can classify people differently. This person is more devoted than that person. That person is more creative than this person, etc.

According to this new perspective, people who work hard to fulfill all of their responsibilities in life are respectable. If a manager is bad and lazy, he can’t compare with a worker who’s intelligent and dedicated.
Moreover, in reality, not everyone can study all the way to university, with difficult homework and assignments. Some people may be able to finish only up to secondary school, not high school. Some can only study up to high school, not university. We must accept these different capabilities, and create equal opportunities for them. Social equality can only be achieved from a moral perspective, and based on moral standards. A person may not be highly educated, but he’s still looked up to because he’s very ethical.
No matter what position you’re in, if you fulfill, or go above and beyond your duty, you’re respectable. On the other hand, if you strive to get into high positions, but then become corrupted and irresponsible, you’re still despised by others.

Happiness is when we can accomplish all of our responsibilities, no matter what position we are in.

Written by:
Janna

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