Morning coffee: Mud and lotus

GD&TĐ - My childhood was connected to rice fields and lotus flowers.

As a child, the wildflowers I loved and longed to touch most were the pretty pink lotus blossoms floating in the pond that my father cleared to grow water spinach. From a young age, my friends and I stayed mostly at home and then went to school. After school, we would go on adventures with the cows in the fields, sometimes on the high mounds.

Back then, there were no telephones, nor any of the distractions that make people forget about each other like today. Each lotus season, the lotus was like a friend, bringing me so much excitement and joy. I remember, at that time, my heart was filled with a burning desire to pick each flower and bring it home to admire to my heart's content.

But after cherishing it for a short while, I grew bored because when the lotus leaves the water, separates from its roots, its soul seems to vanish, and its beauty is no longer complete. Do you believe that all things have souls? I believe so, and it is this soul that creates the unique charm and beauty of all living things.

Later in life, as I embarked on a journey to find the missing piece of my youth, I thought I would leave lotuses behind. But no, luckily, I was able to live in a land with vast lotus fields. Encountering lotuses was like reuniting with a dear childhood friend; it stirred up the longings of my youth.

But it seems that the more ups and downs people experience, the more they understand life. I understand that happiness never comes from possessing too much, because the more you hold on, the more cluttered and messy your heart becomes with calculations and resentments, plunging you into suffering.

True happiness comes from possessing less, allowing the soul to expand. Just as the sky is only beautiful when its vast expanse is unobstructed by clouds, so too is the song of a bird truly beautiful when it soars freely under the deep blue sky. It was this growth in thinking that helped me restrain my desire to possess the beauty of the lotus flower.

I chose to sit quietly, carefully admiring the beauty of this flower. And with my amateur photography skills, the lotus transformed into my own elegant and graceful model. The delicate pink lotus buds, like the lips of a young girl pursed in the early morning light, truly displayed their gentle beauty at this very moment, in the space that rightfully belongs to the lotus.

Lotus flowers are not only beautiful in color but also leave an indelible mark with their unique fragrance. The scent of the lotus is not cloyingly sweet, harsh, or pungent, but rather gentle and refreshing. The lotus seems to breathe into the soul a moment of pristine transcendence, making people forget the usual joys, sorrows, loves, and hates, transforming them into benevolent spirits amidst everyday life.

They say that lotuses grow near mud but remain untainted by its stench, meaning that even amidst muddy swamps, they are not tainted by its foul smell. But for me, it is precisely because of the swamp, because of that muddy, foul-smelling water, that the lotus's fragrance is so pure; without that muddy smell, the lotus's scent would not be so distinct.

Just like humans, without hardship and struggle, without walking alone through life's sun and rain, how could one create such pure beauty? How could one fully understand the value of the happiness and peace one already possesses? The smell of mud has been criticized and scorned for generations, but for me, that mud is like a silent sacrifice, protecting and supporting the lotus so that it can bloom and release its fragrance.

And the lotus is not heartless or indifferent; I sense in its fragrance a hint of muddy soil. That scent, to city dwellers, is foul, but to children like us, raised amidst the scents of the countryside, it is the scent of peace, of childhood. It is that very scent that nurtured us, both physically and spiritually.

Now, every time I return from a long trip, I long for the feeling of inhaling the scent of the fields and mud. That scent is more precious than any expensive perfume; no matter how expensive or fragrant a perfume is, its scent only lasts for a certain period, but this scent has remained in my memory for decades without ever fading.

Perfume may only provide a fleeting feeling of exhilaration, but the scent of the fields and mud of my homeland makes me smile inwardly whenever I remember it, a feeling of peace and freshness that washes away the worries and anxieties of a busy life. That mud is like the simple, unassuming farmers, as gentle as the earth, not skilled at speaking flowery words.

Without mud, the lotus flower would not be able to survive, bloom, and release its fragrance. Photo: Khoi Nguyen.

That's why they're often called country folk, but without those country folk, with their muddy hands and feet, how could we have those bowls of fragrant, sticky rice, those plump, sweet fish, those fresh, tender vegetables, and so many other things that all have their roots in the countryside, in the sun-drenched fields... The lotus flower is the same; without the mud, it wouldn't be able to survive, bloom, and spread its fragrance.

Many rural children, raised in muddy soil, stubbornly deny this, always delude themselves into thinking they are lotuses untouched by mud, thus cutting themselves off from their homeland like a lotus flower carelessly uprooted by a heartless person, quickly withering and dying.

That's right, everything has a soul, and nothing can survive without Mother Earth. Just as humans cannot exist without the nurturing love of their parents. One summer afternoon, thinking about lotuses and mud, I felt a pang of longing for my homeland, for my parents.

We often talk a lot about ideals, but for me, my ideals are family and homeland. No matter where I go, no matter what land I live in, I always remind myself to strive to become a fragrant lotus flower in this world to repay my debt to my ancestors, just as the lotus spreads its fragrance to repay the mud!

Source: https://giaoducthoidai.vn/cafe-ngay-moi-bun-va-sen-post778612.html