Look straight - Tell the truth: Don't live a lavish, wasteful life.

Eating and drinking are instinctive and essential human needs. The important thing is to eat and drink politely, properly, at the right time, in the right place, and in accordance with the conditions of oneself, one's family, and the community and society. Nowadays, besides the majority of cadres and party members who maintain a frugal lifestyle and eat simply, there are still some who, although they are known as "servants of the people", live far from the people, live wastefully, and eat and drink in a dissolute and offensive manner. Not long ago, public opinion was stirred up by many cases of cadres and civil servants whose image was "distorted", such as a district-level leader who still drank at noon while directing people to overcome the consequences of floods; two department-level leaders "fought" after drinking beer at a karaoke bar; A district official, after drinking too much, beat an old woman, causing injuries... Public opinion has also "named and shamed" many agencies and localities, especially at the grassroots level, that have spent "extravagantly", owing hundreds of millions of dong to restaurants and eateries in the area just because they entertained their superiors excessively!

Officials and civil servants who indulge in a luxurious lifestyle and drink excessively have probably forgotten Uncle Ho's advice that in life, everyone likes to eat well and dress well, but if that delicious food is exchanged for the fatigue and trouble of others, then it is not right. Uncle Ho also instructed that when making a revolution, if one does not first reform one's own character to adapt to the new life, while still living lavishly and wasting money, one cannoteducate and guide the people to follow one's example. Saying that one is serving the Fatherland and the people but living far away from the people, having lavish feasts that cannot be eaten in full when many people are still working hard and the country is still facing difficulties, is very contrary to the moral nature and conscience of a communist.

During his lifetime, Professor, Hero of Labor Vu Khieu (1916-2021), one of the typical intellectuals of the Ho Chi Minh era, once worried about a group of officials who lived ostentatiously and wastefully. The respected professor posed two questions: “If Uncle Ho were still alive today, what would he think of those who still claim to be servants of the people, but have a life that is hundreds of thousands of times more luxurious than that of ordinary people? When officials only care about themselves, only care about their own wealth and that of their families day and night, find every way to eat well, dress well, and satisfy material pleasures, how can they still be moved by the poverty and suffering of others?”

Such concerns are well-founded. In reality, there are some cadres who have spent years training themselves to be diligent, frugal, and integrated into the hard-working lives of the people, but after having high positions and power, they have been invited by many businesses and partners to eat and socialize at luxury restaurants and high-class hotels. If they are not alert and tactful in their behavior, and cadres are considerate and easy to attend such parties, they are not only easily taken advantage of by others, but also easily fall into a loose lifestyle. A lifestyle above the people and far from the people gradually develops and forms in cadres, and this is the seed of bureaucracy, indifference, and apathy towards the people.

During the period of resistance war for national liberation, most cadres and party members won over and attracted the masses to follow the revolution because they always knew how to share the joys and sorrows, and share the hardships with the masses. During the peacetime of nation building, when the socio -economic conditions developed, although no one wanted cadres to live a miserable life like before, the Party and the State really needed them to set an example for the people of a healthy and simple lifestyle. If cadres had an ostentatious and lavish lifestyle, they would not only fail to lead, educate, and convince the people, but would also invisibly encourage a pragmatic and wasteful lifestyle; at the same time, it would harm the standards of public service ethics and reduce people's trust in the Party and the regime.

Colonel, Associate Professor, Dr. VO VAN HAI

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