Passion for Excellence

[arthur_king9]

[Vietnam Business Forum]
Friday, Sept. 10, 1994

Dear CACC,

There is this thing that has been bothering me seriously for, well, probably 10 years or so. Now I've thought that probably I should share it with you all.

Very often, when we point out some weakness, some problem in our nation or our system, I would hear a response like "We do much better than many countries in Africa" or "There are many developing countries doing worse than us" or "We are a poor country." That is what I call "The Loser's Mentality."

Imagine a teacher tells a student, "You can do better than this, try harder," and the student responds, "Teacher, my family is poor, many poor students do worse than I do."
Why compare ourselves with the losers? Why can't we compare ourselves with the best and the brightest instead? Instead of comparing ourselves with other developing countries, other poor countries, why don't we just say "We want to eventually beat the France and beat the American in technology and business"?
"Are you crazy? These are two of the most advanced countries in the world. You are so day dreaming and unrealistic."
"Brother, if I remember correctly, we did beat these two countries on the military battlefield already. What's the big deal about business and technology?"

Imagine that 70 years ago president Ho Chi Minh told the nation, "You guys, the France is one of the most advanced nations on earth. We cannot compete with their guns and cannons. You will be crazy to think about fighting them, not mentioning defeating them." Had he said that, where are we now? Unfortunately, after we won the military battles, the succeeding generations act like wimps, no back bone, no will, no aspiration to win, no passion for excellence.

Several years ago, when I got out of the airport in Vietnam, several friends from Ministry of Foreign Affairs picked me up at the airport. I was upset at seeing the custom officers asking for Vietkieu's money at the airport, so I told my friends: "You know, these guys in there just ask for people's money blatantly." One of my friends said: "Oh, you guys have a lot of money. You can give some to your poor brothers." I was very disappointed when I heard that, so I didn't respond. That was the loser's mentality, the mentality of accepting the third-grade quality and coming up with rationale to support such acceptance. This friend of mine later became ambassador to several countries, so he is not low in ranking. You can imagine how many people in our country have such loser's mentality. If so many of us have such a loser's mentality, where will Vietnam go?

We, this generation, should be ashamed to our father's generation. Our fathers did not say, "The France and the American are so powerful, we cannot beat them." They had only one thing in mind —- win or die. That
is the passion for excellence, the passion for winning, the passion for not accepting to be second (because second to them meant death).

If we want to win, we just have to think like a winner. And that is, "We want to beat the best. We want to be champion. And we will work our way, from here to championship." Such winner's mentality will automatically forces our mind into the state of not accepting mediocrity, not accepting low quality performance, not accepting any thing less than the best effort, the best trial, the hardest work, the hardest thinking.

Some may say, "But fighting for survival is different than competing to be rich. In our culture, richness is never a big thing. In our traditional culture, being a poor teacher is the best position of all."
My response would be:
(1) When we fought against the French or the American, that was not fighting for survival. We still could live under the French and the American. It was just not a very honorable way of living. So we were fighting for honor, not survival.
(2) Today, fighting against poverty and for wealth is also fighting for honor, because people around the world always look down on citizens of poor nations (chi Tran Le Thuy raised this point once in this forum).
(3) Our traditional culture of glorifying poverty is just wrong. To use the communist terminology, it is opium. As an individual, probably wealth is a matter of personal taste and may not matter much to some of us. But as a nation, poverty is a sin, wealth is strength and independence. Had Vietnam been wealthy and powerful a thousand years ago, the Chinese, the French, the Mongolian, the Japanese, the American would not have had the guts to attack us. Then we hadn't had to spend a thousand years fighting. As a nation, poverty means you are weak, you open yourself to attack by other guys, to be dominated and stepped upon by other nations, to be looked down upon by citizen of richer nations. Go around the world, and you will see this point clearer than the day light. (Or ask chi Tran Le Thuy who has seen enough). Poverty is a disease of the nation. Poverty has to be erased. Regardless what our personal philosophy about wealth, for the nation, wealth is a major goal.

So we need to tell each other to be more demanding of ourselves and our fiends, our teachers, our government, our leaders. Look at how the best of the world, the Japanese, the British, the Australian work, learn form them with the determination to outdo them later on. (And they will love to hear you, the student, say this, because every good teacher would love to see the day the student can beat him). Stop thinking that "We are so poor, so this is good enough." No, it won't be enough until we can beat the best of the world.

Believe in ourselves. If we think we can do it, then we will do it. Don't settle for mediocrity. Don't settle for second. Settle for the best. Demand the best of ourselves and our people. And we have our history to back us up, that we can do what other peoples think impossible.

Have a great day!

Tran Dinh Hoanh, LLB, JD
Attorney of Law
Washington DC


Note this is from a collection of aspiration letters that I read and want to share with all, if it's against ethic rule of this forum please ignore and move it.

<div class='quotetop'></div>

this is from a collection of aspiration letters that I read and want to share with all[/b]

You read this letter and what did you think? the important thing is what did you THINK and DO after reading it ?

[Old_captain]

tác giả mà giỏi tiếng việt thì tốt quá nhỉ ? OC lùm biếng dịch bài này ra tiếng việt wớ :)

<div class='quotetop'>(Old_captain @ Aug 26 2006, 02:17 PM) [snapback]104667[/snapback]</div>

tác giả mà giỏi tiếng việt thì tốt quá nhỉ ? OC lùm biếng dịch bài này ra tiếng việt wớ :)
[/b]

khà khà , one of reasons .... of "The Loser's Mentality" :lol:

[Old_captain]

<div class='quotetop'>(m3oc0n @ Aug 26 2006, 10:43 AM) [snapback]104682[/snapback]</div>

khà khà , one of reasons .... of "The Loser's Mentality" :lol:
[/b]

:lol: :lol: :lol: feel good because of your loser's :lol: :lol:

<div class='quotetop'>(Old_captain @ Aug 26 2006, 02:17 PM) [snapback]104667[/snapback]</div>

tác giả mà giỏi tiếng việt thì tốt quá nhỉ ? OC lùm biếng dịch bài này ra tiếng việt wớ :)
[/b]

phình phường hay tư quấn cho mí em = English lém mừ , sao giờ lùm biếng òy :lol: , đọc thôi, ai bĩu dịch :rolleyes:

[arthur_king9]

<div class='quotetop'>(m3oc0n @ Aug 25 2006, 10:03 PM) [snapback]104621[/snapback]</div>

You read this letter and what did you think? the important thing is what did you THINK and DO after reading it ?
[/b]

I think this is what I'm trying to...
<div class='quotetop'></div>

So we need to tell each other to be more demanding of ourselves and our fiends, our teachers, our government, our leaders. Look at how the best of the world, the Japanese, the British, the Australian work, learn form them with the determination to outdo them later on. (And they will love to hear you, the student, say this, because every good teacher would love to see the day the student can beat him). Stop thinking that "We are so poor, so this is good enough." No, it won't be enough until we can beat the best of the world.

Believe in ourselves. If we think we can do it, then we will do it. Don't settle for mediocrity. Don't settle for second. Settle for the best. Demand the best of ourselves and our people. And we have our history to back us up, that we can do what other peoples think impossible. [/b]

In my opinion, the writer only points out undenying facts. The question in this case is how we do it i.e. achieve our goal not just what I THINK and DO, but all of us in this matter...
As I said earlier, I like this letter due to my belief and the information that available to me. If there's tiny bit of untruthfulness in the writer’s account, please feel free to debate, as I'm eager to be more educated in this matter.

<div class='quotetop'>(arthur_king9 @ Aug 29 2006, 12:33 AM) [snapback]104839[/snapback]</div>

I think this is what I'm trying to...
In my opinion, the writer only points out undenying facts. The question in this case is how we do it i.e. achieve our goal not just what I THINK and DO, but all of us in this matter...
As I said earlier, I like this letter due to my belief and the information that available to me. If there's tiny bit of untruthfulness in the writer’s account, please feel free to debate, as I'm eager to be more educated in this matter.
[/b]

Nothing for me to debate here, just wanna know what you think and do, if ... do it .. alone ?? And if it's your belief , go ahead .. :D Anyway, hope that you'll be successful in the future .