The last days of March were also the day when my hometown Quang Ngai province celebrated 50 years of liberation (March 24, 1975) and then the day of national reunification (April 30, 1975). My mother read the newspaper and watched TV and saw the roads, streets, and even the small alleys covered with Party flags and national flags. She excitedly told my sisters and me: "I like the alley in front of our house to also hang the Party flag and national flag so that I can be happy and remember my grandparents, my second and third uncles - my brothers who sacrificed their lives in the two resistance wars against the French and the Americans to save the country."
The national flag alley that my sisters and I made to make our mother happy on April 30 - PHOTO: PROVIDED BY THE AUTHOR
In response to Mom's wishes, my sisters and I decorated the small alley in front of our house with colorful flags. Seeing Mom's old eyes looking at the row of red flags fluttering in the small alley, my sisters and I knew she was happy and moved.
My mother often told my sisters and me about my grandparents, about my second and third uncles. At that time, my grandparents were poor and had many children. My mother, my aunts and uncles were born at a time when the country was engulfed in the smoke of war. During the resistance war against the French colonialists and the American imperialists, my second and third uncles "put down their pens and followed the call of the country". My second and third uncles heroically sacrificed themselves in a raid when they were only eighteen or twenty years old...
At the age of thirteen (when my grandparents passed away and my aunts got married), my mother already knew how to carry a load of rice to the market to earn money to support herself and my sixth uncle (who was sick). There were times when the enemy dropped bombs on her when she went to the market to sell, and she thought she would surely die, but thank God, my mother was still safe. My mother said that when it was getting dark, seeing her from afar carrying a load of rice, covered in mud, my aunts and my mother hugged each other and cried.
Mom and older sister Hai and older sister Nam on March 8 - PHOTO: PROVIDED BY AUTHOR
In the early 1970s, my mother met my father and lived with him until now. My father was also poor at that time. Then my sisters and I were born one after another. My mother did all kinds of jobs, "selling her face to the ground, selling her back to the sky" hoping to earn money to raise my sisters and me to be educated, from selling jackfruit, grilled corn, selling fabric, clothes to selling rice, pork...
In the late 1980s, the cooperative where my father worked was dissolved, so my father became unemployed. My mother took care of all the housework by herself without complaining. She woke up and went to the market from the time the rooster crowed until dark, hoping to earn some money to "feed 7 children and a husband".
My mother has always been straightforward, kind and not greedy. She said that when she was still selling rice with people at the market and then she switched to selling pork, someone told her how to "cheat" to make more profit, but she refused because her conscience did not allow it. Because of her straightforward and not greedy nature, some people said she was "poor but still pretending". So she quit and refused to trade or work with people anymore. She started selling on her own from that time.
My mother often told my sisters and me: "If we do business dishonestly, we will be punished to death. I think that whatever we do, we must think about the consequences and blessings, to accumulate virtue for our children and grandchildren in the future...".
I remember, in the years when my mother was still selling rice at the market, every noon I often rode my bike to the market to help my mother and then waited for her to come home for lunch. My mother often ordered hot tea from Tuong. My mother told me about Tuong's family situation, his family was very poor, he was an orphan, only had a mother, had to drop out of school early, went to the market to "exchange water" for people to earn money to help his mother. Because of his poor situation, my mother often ordered his water to drink, sometimes she gave him a few more coins, sometimes she gave him a handful of rice to cook. Maybe that's why he loved my mother so much, he considered my mother as his second mother. Every time my family had a death anniversary or New Year's, he often came to my house to visit.
A few years ago, near my house, there were 3 mothers and children from Quang Nam who rented a room to sell lottery tickets. Perhaps, seeing the poor and unfortunate circumstances of the people, my mother sympathized and felt sorry for them. My mother told me that she felt sorry for the mute boy, who wandered around selling lottery tickets from early morning until late afternoon. She knew that if he could not sell all the lottery tickets, he would be hungry that day and would not have money to eat. Whenever she saw him, she would call him over to buy some lottery tickets and give him some money... When the family had a memorial service, my mother would "watch" until the time the mute boy passed by the house on his way home from selling lottery tickets, she would call him in and give him a bag of food. The mute boy could not speak, but from his gestures I knew he loved my mother very much.
My mother loved people and often helped the poor, even though during the subsidy period, my family was one of the "poorest in the village". Whenever she saw old people or children wandering around begging, my mother would call them in to give them rice and feed them because "seeing them was so pitiful that I couldn't bear it". In the 1980s and 1990s, when my family was still farming, on harvest day, my sisters and I went to the fields to help my mother. During the harvest season, there were many poor people, adults, old people and even children from the countryside who went "gleaning rice" and begging for rice. Whenever she saw people "gleaning rice", my mother would call them back. When it was time to eat rice in the fields, my mother would tell them to come and have lunch to ease their hunger...
My mother is like that, her whole life, whether her life was sometimes poor or today is somewhat decent and full, but her love for her homeland, her loyalty, her love for her husband and children, her compassion, her love for others and especially her straightforward nature, not greedy, have never been exhausted. She is a shining example, a strong will and a noble quality for my sisters and I to follow. She still "lives beautifully" no matter what the circumstances.
Source: https://thanhnien.vn/ma-van-song-dep-du-trong-bat-ky-hoan-canh-nao-185250605104322209.htm
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