The East Sea and the "Spider's Silk"

The heat of the East Sea seems to be imprinted on all aspects of the lives of the Vietnamese people at this time, making everyone seem to forget the intense heat of the Northern summer climate. It even appeared in the Literature exam of high school students, the age group of students who should only write their dreams of a peaceful and happy life on paper. It also appeared in the National Assembly, where those elected by the people should only discuss business. In dire need of stability to focus on building the country, we are no longer at peace, when we have to spend our attention, energy, money, and sometimes even blood to protect the East Sea of ​​the Fatherland. A country can only exist when its territorial integrity is preserved. Looking from the perspective of space and territory, poet Nguyen Khoa Diem once wrote about the country: “Land is noh phoenix fly backSilver Mountain/ Nwish is where the fish claws the ocean water”.Without the sea, how can Vietnam still be called Vietnam?

The story of the East Sea suddenly reminded me of the short story "Spider silk”by the writer Akutagava of Japan, a country that currently shares the same concern as us. The Japanese are forced to take necessary actions to protect themselves. A country that for many years has only been concerned with business, now has to "change the image of the country" to maintain peace. Anyone who has experienced war, certainly always dreams of a peaceful life. I am deeply moved by the recent words and actions of the Japanese Prime Minister: the Japanese are too afraid of war, so they always seek to foster peace. But peace never comes from only one side. That reality makes the Japanese have to be vigilant.

As for our country, Vietnam, if compared to the pain caused by war, is certainly not less than Japan. After decades of sacrifice in the war to defend the country, we thought we had a life of eternal peace. The Vietnamese people deserve to enjoy that simple happiness. Yet, in the middle of these scorching summer days, China brazenly placed the Haiyang 981 drilling rig right in our country's sovereign waters. That brazenness has touched the proud hearts of many patriotic Vietnamese. With the ambition to invade Vietnam's East Sea, the "giant" from the North, in addition to plotting to usurp sovereignty, also allows itself to have the exclusive right to exploit the rich resources under the seabed to serve its ambition to expand to the whole world.

The short story by Japanese writer Akutagava is as follows: One beautiful peaceful day, Buddha Sakyamuni was walking in the land of paradise when he suddenly looked down to hell and discovered the robber Kandata drowning in a pool of blood, beneath which was a forest of needles. Remembering that this robber Kandata used to be very cruel, but one time, while walking in the forest, he saw a spider crossing the road. At first, Kandata intended to step on that small creature, but then he thought again, because after all, that spider was such a small creature, deserving of life. Kandata's unexpected kindness moved the Buddha's compassion. So he conveniently threw a spider thread from the sky down to the pool of blood, where Kandata was being punished by a forest of needles. Kandata immediately clung to the thread and climbed up. After climbing a considerable distance, Kandata stopped to regain his strength to continue climbing, but suddenly he discovered a whole forest of people from below also climbing up with him. Greed and selfishness arose, Kandata turned down and shouted loudly: “Hey you guys, this spider web is mine, who gave you permission to cling to it?!”. The thread that had previously remained strong despite the hundreds of thousands of people clinging to it, suddenly snapped when it heard Kandata’s scream. Kandata flipped and fell back into the pond of blood and the forest of needles. So just because of his selfishness, wanting to monopolize the spider thread, that evil and greedy man was punished again.

Of course, I don't mean to compare the whole story "Fiber tspider”of Akutagava with the story of the Beijing government with the East Sea of ​​our country today. Any comparison may be lame. But the greed and selfishness of the bullies anywhere, any period are the same. And greed and selfishness in any period, especially in the current context of globalization, certainly no one can accept. Living in a "flat world", how can people easily accept that resources, wealth, happiness, can only be reserved for a group of people, a country, even if it is a large country. It is even more unacceptable that another country uses military force to threaten and plunder the resources of its neighbor. No matter how insatiable the greed of outsiders is, it still needs to be stopped at the door of the homeowner? Creation is always very fair. He will not let anyone have the right to live a full and abundant life when there are still so many poor people in the world. I think there are still many poor people in China. But they certainly do not need the things that their government has taken from others.

In these turbulent days of the East Sea, the self-esteem of the Vietnamese people has risen. There can be no truly peaceful life when the country’s sovereignty is violated. Profound lessons from “Fiber tspider”Akutagava's story can now be a valuable lesson for the Beijing authorities with the story of the East Sea. I love peace and pray for the peace of the East Sea, of my people, of all people who love a peaceful life in this world. Thank you, Japan, for giving birth to a writer like Akutagava who left behind a very profound fable.