DEMONSTRATING PRIDE: Students of Long Xuyên Ward in An Giang Province during celebrations of the 80th National Day in September. VNA/VNS Photo Công Mạo

Nguyễn Mỹ Hà

In Việt Nam sometimes you don't simply declare your love for your country. Under critical circumstances, when you feel compassion shared among fellow countrymen when natural calamities hit, you may hear people proclaim, "If there's a next life, I'd only want to be Vietnamese; even if I could only be a blade of grass, I'd want to grow on Vietnamese soil."

When life is going well, the Vietnamese can quarrel about almost anything. But when faced with a common threat, they become united and supportive as never before, even if they have very different views.

This year has been a special year, with the grand celebration of the 50th anniversary of the country's reunification and the 80th anniversary of the founding of the Democratic Republic of Việt Nam, respectively, on April 30 and September 2. Sentiment runs high among people across the country as they express their love for the nation.

At the same time, it has been a tough year for many. Recent serious floods and landslides have made people's lives so much harder and even pushed some to the brink of misery.

Every year, schools typically plan their extracurricular activities around these issues, with topics on protecting the environment, reducing plastic use, and more. The overall theme this year in many locations, in part inspired by epic war movies like Red Rain, has been music and dance programmes full of patriotic lyrics and military dances.

On one hand, schools are institutions where our children learn about love for their country first and foremost. The love comes in the way you learn to read and write, and learn about its history, geography and literature. We all learned how hard our forefathers fought to secure the peace we enjoy today, and became aware of the need to treasure it. As a parent, I cannot agree more.

But on the other hand, love for peace and for our country, if you're overdoing it, becomes a little mundane. Sometimes, staged sacrifices and heroic acts become light-hearted, or not well-thought-through.

To commemorate National Teachers' Day this week, so much effort has been put into school's music pieces, where many children dress as soldiers. Footage behind them shows war scenes from movies or museums.

PROUD TOGETHER: Ngô Sỹ Liên Secondary School in Hà Nội has become an inspiring educational environment, where studying and teamworking have encouraged students to strive higher for success. VNA/VNS Photo Thanh Tùng

The children who take part in such theatrical scenes have all been growing up in peace, and don't understand the pain and hardship their forefathers went through so that they would never have to experience the same. But many would say that if we treasure peace, we must be prepared for war. We need to educate our children about love for our country so that if needed, they would be the ones who protect it.

We all learned about the young Trần Quốc Toản who, at 14 years of age, upon hearing the 13th-century Trần Dynasty's court discussing whether to fight or surrender to the Yuan invaders, crushed an orange in his palm as he determined to fight. Children today need to learn about Trần Quốc Toản and many other great men and women who fought for peace in Việt Nam.

For children under 18, let's make their childhood peaceful and safe. After 18, when they become a mature man or woman, they can continue their studies in college or get a job, or they can join the army to fulfil their military service. They then take full responsibility for their actions as adults.

However, for children in high school, they need to spend more time enjoying peace and friendship. They need to find their own way to express themselves, both in agreement or disagreement, with a calm attitude. They need to develop their own way of coping with stress, and carry themselves properly to ensure their viewpoints are taken seriously. There are skills they need to learn to keep themselves in a safe, sanitary and orderly environment so that they can come home to a clean and safe place to get a good, deep sleep and face the next day ahead.

When they are physically healthy and mentally stable, they are more likely to make the right choices about loving their country and standing up to defend it when required. VNS