HÀ NỘI — In a song performed by saxophonists Quyền Văn Minh, Quyền Thiện Đắc and Trần Mạnh Tuấn, diva Thanh Lam sings: “When you send your love to the soil, you will have trees weighed down with fruits”. 

All of these musicians are fans of the book Tình Thương (Love) by Hà Huy Thanh, 36, from the central province of Hà Tĩnh. They were among many celebrities gathering at a ceremony held last weekend in Hà Nội to commemorate one year since the book was published.

They discussed love, called on people to be envoys of love and to spread the importance of love and kindness, with the aim of making Việt Nam a country of love and peace.

“There is no particular definition for love on Google or Wikipedia,” said author Thanh.

“Through the book, I want people to understand my opinions about love and form their own. I believe that love comes from understanding, sharing and building.”

Thanh emphasised the need for a book about love as it explains what love is, why people need love in life, and how to express love.

“Without love, people can do bad things like selling dirty food or producing chemicals to inflict mass murder,” he said.

Thanh told Việt Nam News that he finished the book after three months working on his smartphone.

“I decided to write a book after hearing news that a man killed his wife when he saw her with another man on Hàng Bông Street,” said Thanh.

“I believe the reason for the crime was that the man lacked love,” he said. “We may see many similar stories in society. To dispel the problem, we need love.”

Poet Vũ Quần Phương said he felt deeply moved by the book.

“We need love to maintain the existence of society and kindness among people. Bad things happen when people show no love.”  

“As far as I know, books which are full of philosophy like this are often written by experienced authors,” said Phương. “But Thanh is a young author, so what he writes in this book is so amazing, simple and easy to touch people’s hearts.”

People’s Artist Lan Hương said she had read the book over and over again.

“The 150-page book gives a precise definition of the meaning and need for love,” said Hương. “The author also suggests ways to preserve love in the family. I learned a lot from from this book”.

Professor of biology Nguyễn Lân Dũng said he found many words of wisdom in the book.

Quoting the book, he said: “To eliminate misery today and tomorrow, the only thing we need is love”.

Thanh said publishing the book was a first step on a long journey to spread love. He plans to start a club named Envoys of Love to honour individuals and organisations who do good things for the community.

The proceeds from book sales, which have reached VNĐ500 million (US$22,000), have been donated to charity. Half of the money will go to poor students and the rest will be used to support soldiers and people living in the Spratlys Archipelago.

The book was published on August 31 last year, with 15,000 copies. — VNS