Human life is very fleeting (*)

In a lifetime, how many decades have passed in the blink of an eye? And in this life, we realize that the people who were once by our side are gradually disappearing. Some departures are so quiet that we are startled to learn they have long since "stopped playing" with life.

That day we talked, our hearts still heavy with grief over the lives buried under the rubble and devastation after Mother Nature's devastating attack.

To see that impermanence is ever-present, it determines everything. A human being, with just one breath, vanishes into thin air. What do we retain for ourselves?

You said you're going back to your hometown this time to sort things out. You're not immune to the widespread unemployment "storm." You're not sad. What good would sadness do? How could your kind mother back home understand what kind of "AI" is that's causing her son and millions of others to lose their jobs?

When you come home, there's someone else fanning the charcoal, someone to turn over the pieces of meat oozing fat over the glowing embers, and your back aches a little less. You don't know if your mother spoke more today, but you know for sure she smiled more. Strangely, it's been so long since you could remember your mother's smile; looking back now, it seems to have become a little less pronounced.

Your mother spoke softly, yet it sent shivers down your spine. Suddenly, you thought, one day, life will "tear" your mother away from you, just as you yourself have "tear" yourself away from this peaceful, rural countryside. You didn't utter a word to your mother about your unemployment. These past few days, news of the merger of provinces and cities, and the reorganization of wards and communes, has left a woman who loves her homeland so deeply, like your mother, restless and anxious. You couldn't bear to add another worry to her mind.

You only asked your mother to let you go back to help sell rice at the stall. Your mother couldn't believe that someone who loved the fun and the city would suddenly have a longing for the countryside. But she still chuckled.

Watching Mom still working nimbly at the food counter, her hands and feet not making a single wasted movement, you naturally feel happy because at least the whirlwind of technology still "has no chance" of affecting her livelihood.

It's true that, no matter how advanced AI becomes, it can't marinate ribs to perfection; it can't flip fatty meat on a charcoal grill without it drying out or burning; it can't make smooth egg patties like mom's, and it can't generously add extra meat and egg to the rice of the old lottery ticket vendor...

You suddenly smile. Someone said it right: just live, and you'll live! You'll live like your mother, peacefully, thinking less, worrying less, and feeling less exhausted. You'll think of ways to make a living without being too dependent on anything. Everything just needs to be enough.

Life is filled with worries about food, clothing, and shelter, holding people back from finding each other, stifling even joy, plunging them into the abyss of arduous struggle for survival. Some eyes haven't had the chance to reach high mountains or vast oceans. Some ears haven't had the chance to hear the strange sounds of sparse streams and quiet forests. And then, when they look back, their bodies have already withered on the other side of life's slope.

No matter what the future holds, we must live fully in the present.

"Human life is very fleeting."

My dear, just live your life in a way that makes you happy.

Live as if you've never lived before.

"Hold my hand and let's walk through the long night..."

I hear you speak, but it's as if you're talking to yourself!

(*): Lyrics of the song "Song of Youth" (PKL Trio).

Source: https://baoquangnam.vn/doi-loai-nguoi-nay-rat-voi-3157193.html