2015 Ho Chi Minh's noble lifestyle: Simple but delicate

What creates the stature of a great person is his or her ideology and career. The impact, influence and pervasiveness of their thought and cause lie in the morals, personality and culture which they impress history.

Victor Hugo, one of the greatest French writers, once expressed his admiration for great men through the following statement: “Face to face with an erudite man, I will bow my head in admiration, but face to face with a noble personality I will kneel down in adoration.”

President Ho Chi Minh

All generations of Vietnamese, as well as those of our friends across the world, have a deep and unforgettable impression of Ho Chi Minh. We are fully aware of his life and daily lifestyle — the noble, delicate and simple features of a human being who put into practice the humanitarian philosophy of “altruism and self-denial”, at the crystallization and heightening of the cultural values of the nation and mankind. His house, together with the instruments he used daily, have become sacred objects of our history. His work place, a house on stilts rigged up in the heart of the capital of Hanoi, always attracts the Vietnamese and our friends abroad.

The nobility in his life in general, and in his lifestyle in particular, forms a fine cultural feature. It is also the cultural mind of an oriental sage, which shows special Vietnamese characteristics and the brilliant spirit of his wisdom. Every bombastic, flowery, and empty expression is quite alien to him. Throughout his life, he never had the bossy attitude of a leader. He always regarded himself as a soldier under orders of the homeland to fulfil all important obligations entrusted to him by the nation.

On his death bed, he thought deeply about his fellow-countrymen, and worried for the peasants’ plight in the event of dykes breaking. He also paid attention to the situation on the battlefields in the South, to the beginning of the children’s new school year. His moving words before dying, “How can I give up my fellow-countrymen in this hard condition to go away for good right now?” These are just some details of his lifetime, colourful and noble. His noble character was also demonstrated through his life of philantrophy, dedication, sacrifice and self-denial. In addition to his noble lifestyle, he was also keen on harmony, humans and nature. He cherished the good, but he also neglected himself, respecting the old, loving the young, and even fighters and conscripted labourers at war.

His nobility lies in his high morals and his kind heart. He knew how to fully sympathise with human and family suffering. He was content with our sincere smiles, and joyful with little children’s singing —they were all part of his happiness. Let’s think about his house on stilts; humanist Pham Van Dong once remarked, “He leads a simple life in the common house on stilts abound in the fragrance coming from plants and grass grown in his garden, while his heart opens wide to enjoy the fresh wind from the four directions of our time.”

His noble lifestyle also reflects his mind, heart, thought and personality: lofty but not distant, new but not weird, great but not pompous, brilliant but not dazzling. It makes us feel friendly from the first time we meet him. It can be said that it is the real and lively portrait of him which speaks volumes to our broad comprehension and deep impressions of him.

It is his simple lifestyle that enables us, and our friends all over the world, to have great affection for him, even his opponents. What’s more, his simple lifestyle crystallizes his colourful experiences of life. He is simple but not complicated.

“Simplicity is the great and final effort of a genius,” goes a maxim. Simplicity in cultural activities expresses his most prominent feature. It is in this way that he knows how to associate himself with the masses’ living conditions, aspirations and needs. Truth is clearly, sincerely and unaffectedly shown in people’s life. Truth and people have the same nature: simplicity. His simple lifestyle stems from his sustainability, and noble and natural conduct. That is why we come to understand that as an erudite oriental intellect, he is neither haughty nor academic. His expressions sound like the people’s daily speech. Yet they can convey the thoughts of great minds and go straight into the people’s hearts as a raison d’être.

His lifestyle was not only simple but also delicate; he had a well-behaved disposition. Much has been said or written about him through anecdotes by virtue of his wide-spread influence in thought, wisdom, morals, transparency and personality. As a great intellect, his delicate conduct has been recognized by many artists and men of letters in their contact with him. As a people’s leader, he comes to them not only through his heart but also through his affection and sincerity. As a Party leader he is the incarnation of morals and advanced awareness, and is the symbol and soul of unity, “keeping unity and consensus of mind within the Party like humans’ eyes, maintaining criticism and self-criticism in the spirit of comradeship for mutual respect and affection.”

As a friend of the world’s peoples, he held sincerity and modesty dear, cherished human sympathy in order to strengthen friendship, and brought the world’s peoples together with Vietnam and vice versa. The name Ho Chi Minh was first used when he returned to the homeland to lead the Vietnamese revolution. Surely, the name will be dearly called for ever. His name also explains the myth of a great man and his noble life, simply because he is the real man. He was also known as Nguyen Ai Quoc the Patriot.

All of the above-mentioned features speak volumes to his noble lifestyle, delicate and profound, for all of us to learn from, to follow his example and do the same for ever and ever.

(Source: nhandan.org.vn)