COURAGE, COMMUNICATION, RESPECT: Female soldiers with Hà Nội residents after a rehearsal for the National Day Parade. VNA/VNS Photo Quốc Khánh

Anh Đức

September 2, the National Day, is a public holiday in Việt Nam – that is perhaps its simplest definition. But a definition's mission is to only explain the mere concept in logical ways, not to explore the aspects of emotions that surround an idea. To delve into these feelings, one must look at the meaning of the concept.

I was asked to write this essay on the meaning of the National Day, why everything around you is drenched in red and yellow these days, why songs that are 40-50 years old are blasted loudly on the streets, and why people from all walks of life flocked to the capital of Hà Nội to see the military parade.

And the more I think about it, the more I explore the meaning of September 2, everything leads to one big question. What is the essence of Việt Nam? What are the things that make Việt Nam unique?

If you look at other nations' national days, each would centre around a simple theme: a celebration of that nation, that people's values and culture – their essence.

Americans are mostly described as optimistic, believers in fairness, confident and proud of their own achievements. And on their Independence Day holiday on July 4, Americans rejoice in fireworks - a sign of joy and optimism, parades, barbecues, concerts and, most especially, baseball - a popular sport that is their own creation.

The French, on the other hand, celebrate their national day, or Bastille Day, with a military parade in Paris, as a country proud of their military might and generals, with the most famous being Napoleon Bonaparte. Museums such as the Louvre are open freely, to accommodate the art-loving French people, and to display the best of the French-speaking culture to the world.

So when you describe a Vietnamese person, which characteristics would you use? This is a question that polarises many, as while there are opinions that the Vietnamese culture is unique on its own, others say that it has assimilated many things across its 4,000-year-long history.

For this aspect, many have their own opinions, but as a young Vietnamese who has been observing my fellow đồng bào (compatriots) for the last 30 years, for me being a Vietnamese is about three characteristics, which are also present in how we celebrate our National Day.

Courage

Courage will always definitely be the first word on the list. It's the noun that encompasses our entire history and explains how we got here, on our own and united as one nation.

Whether it was the Chinese, Mongols, French or Americans, and even if the odds were stacked against us, the Vietnamese people still found a way to stand up for liberty, for the independence of our own race.

I can go on for eternity about courage in wartime, which you might also have heard a lot about. But this courage is not just present when we are facing a conflict.

It is present when doctors rush into the hotspot of the pandemic to help save people. It is present when a woman, despite exhaustion, tried to help save the people who were on a capsized cruise ship with her in Hạ Long.

It is present when Vietnamese youth, every day, voice their opinions and demand peace for a Middle Eastern land roughly 7,000 kilometres away from their capital. It was present when a businessman announced to everyone that he was going to build the first football academy in the mountains of Pleiku and that his players would one day bring glory to Việt Nam (and they did).

Many people think to have courage is to actually commit and take action, and not just spew out words. But in a world where people are becoming more and more afraid to voice their opinions, to have the heart to say what you want takes guts.

It is because of courage that our people were able to fend off invasions and protect our sovereignty.

It is because of courage that we could learn a whole new alphabet system and eliminate illiteracy.

It is because of courage that Vietnamese doctors were capable of saving lives whose chances of survival were slim.

Courage is the thing that, for us, made so many impossible things possible. For that, courage is a gift.

Communication

Because of the courage that makes us say what we think, we talk a lot.

Communication is what binds us together as a society; it is the biggest and most crucial pillar. And our language is designed for long conversations.

This essay is wordy, but if you translate it into Vietnamese, the number of words can double, and triple if presented as a TED Talk. And I know because I've translated so many articles in Vietnamese into English, and mumbled "why don't you just say it like this?" many times over.

We don't usually say 'trong tương lai' (in the future) to describe what comes next, but rather, 'trong thời gian tới' (in the coming time), which is one word more and not very colloquial in English.

If you have the chance to listen to a formal Vietnamese speech, you'd find that we tend to repeat an idea over and over again and not get straight to the point. We also tend to use idioms, proverbs and locutions to a great extent.

It might get a little bit annoying if you're not used to it, but trust me, the reason is simple: we want to talk to you and to others around us more. Because we believe that the more we talk, the more we discuss, the more we can forge an understanding with one another, and that could resolve the differences that divide us.

And the language barrier does not matter. Young Vietnamese can speak English quite well, with many in cities even speaking it fluently. Some senior citizens even have a command of French and Russian. We learn more languages so that we can have the chance to communicate with people from all over the Blue Marble.

Communication helped us achieve peace on the negotiation table in Paris, 1973. It brought US President Bill Clinton to Hà Nội for the first time, and normalised a relation that was once antagonistic.

Communication brought together nations to Việt Nam to solve differences and make the world a better place. It attracts businesses from all over the globe to a nation once devastated by war, and turns it into a country with a 2025 GDP growth rate of more than eight per cent.

It's hard to imagine what our lives would be if we closed off ourselves and did not talk to each other. The same goes for where Việt Nam would be if we didn't engage, communicate and learn from our global friends.

Respect

National Day is one of the times for us to annually communicate our third and most intrinsic value: respect.

Respect lives within the very foundation of Vietnamese culture. In a family, it is the respect for our parents, our ancestors. In society, it's the respect for the elderly and for those who have contributed immensely to Việt Nam.

Respect lives in our language. There could be a hundred different pronouns in Vietnamese that are equivalent to the word "you" in English, but each is used differently to address the other person with respect for their position in life.

And on National Day, we pay respect to our forefathers, for those who have fought and given their lives for this country. It is because of them that Việt Nam exists; it is because of them that our culture and our way of life live on, and our country's name is engraved in world history.

It is because of them that National Day exists.

A day of celebration, but also a day of solemn remembrance of what has transpired in the past, of what is happening in the here and now, and of how we can learn and move forward.

To forget the meaning of this day is a disrespect to those who have fallen.

If you are reading this and are visiting Việt Nam for the first time, try to see if the atmosphere of National Day really aligns with the three characteristics that I've presented before.

You may experience all three, or you may see some others, but I can assure you that you will definitely feel the last one.

Welcome to Việt Nam, on the 80th Independence Day of our great nation. VNS