[Vnbiz] The First Fruit

[Tran Dinh Hoanh]

Dear CACC,



In case you haven't notice, we are the first generation in our nation's
history to have great opportunities to make history.  Let's take a look at
us and at our world today:



We are the first generation in our nation's history to enjoy peace.  Our
forefathers were always in war or prepared for war.



We are the first generation to enjoy national independence.



We are the first generation that can stand tall in the world and say "We are
Vietnamese" with pride and honor and receive approval nods from our friends
around the world.  Our heroic struggles for independence and our victories
have brought us global respect.



We are the first generation in which each person has an internationally
equal opportunity to learn.  By "internationally equal opportunity" I mean
an opportunity equal to that of the richest person in the most advanced
country in the world. Any of us, sitting in almost any corner of our land,
may use the Internet to learn whatever she wants from anywhere in the world.
Not too long ago, our ability to learn was confined to the school where we
sat, so that even the children of the well-to-do families studying in Hanoior
Saigon were still at huge disadvantage when compared with children in the
more advanced nations.  That is no longer true today.



We are the first generation that can learn anything from anyone at any time
of our choosing.  Our learning opportunity is limitless, available at the
tips of our fingers.



We are the first generation in which each individual can instantly see, hear
and understand things that happen anywhere in the world.  We can understand
the world as well as our own village.



We are the first generation that can talk to and do work with people on the
other side of the world on a daily basis.



We are the first generation in which each person can have an international
voice; each person has an equal opportunity to express him/herself to the
entire world.  No one is merely an unknown voiceless statistic in a
voiceless mass as in the old days.  Each one of us today has the ability to
raise our voice internationally, to express our feelings and to share our
knowledge to the entire world.  Each one of us has the opportunity to be
him/herself, a person with an identity, with a distinctive voice, that may
be heard loudly and clearly among friends around the country and throughout
the world.



We are the first generation in which each person has the opportunity to
contribute and share to his/her full potentials.



All the generations before us never had such opportunities.  To them, the
world was their villages or cities.  Some went further and, to them, Chinaor
France was the center of the world.  The world was such an immense,
mysterious and scary place.  Their opportunity to learn was confined to
exactly where they sat and what kind of family they came from.  Their
international dealings consisted of doing business with foreigners who
happened to stop by our shore.  Their lifetime mission was mostly going to
war.  Advanced nations were simply too advanced for them to compare.  In
other words, their vision was short and their opportunities small.



Even with all that disadvantage, our forefathers were heroic.  They made us
proud.



Today, we are on the forefront of our country's history.  We are in a world
that our forefathers could never imagine.   We have unprecedented
opportunities to learn, to understand, to work, to share and to contribute.
We are in a world of lightning changes, massive globalization, enormous
competition and opportunities, and immense blending and colliding of great
cultures and civilizations.



We are a unique generation at a unique point in our history.



But do we know that?  Do we understand our unique place in history?



Are we up to the task?



What we, the first generation of peace and opportunities, do will determine
the future of our nation.  We are on the frontline of our history.  Many
years from now, historians will talk about us and our unique place in
history.  And we will have our final score then.



Are we up to the task?



History is large and historical tasks are immense, but our individual part
is simple.  All we need to do is, first, to understand our generation's
place in history, second, to understand the great opportunities each of us
has, and third, to live every day to the fullest.



Live each day to the fullest.



Live, learn, work and play with a passion, knowing that whatever we do
matters, because each one of us has a voice, an opportunity to talk, to
share and to work globally.



And none of us is too small.  If you think someone or something is too small
to count, you have not slept with a mosquito in your room or walk with a
grain of sand in your shoe.


Every one of us has such immense opportunities.

Everyone counts.


Do you count yourself?

My dear brothers and sisters, all great religions and philosophies of the
world teach about the seed of greatness in each us.  We are already great;
we don't have to try to be great.  All we have to do is (1) to know that we
already have the Godliness, the Buddhahood, the Christ, the Atman, the
Goodness, the Greatness in us, and (2) to live our life with such knowledge.



Live each day to the fullest.



Live, learn, work and play with a passion.



Know that we count.  Each of us, each of us, each of us counts.



And many years from now, our historians will talk about us as the first
fruit of our forfathers' victory and peace, the first generation that bands
together globally to put our nation on the road to greatness.



Have a great day!



Hoanh


-- 
Tran Dinh Hoanh, LLB, JD
Attorney of Law
Washington DC
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