Mr. Nguyen Van Vy (born in 1944) and Mrs. Dang Thi Ngot (born in 1946) in Ha Trung district (Thanh Hoa) have 10 children - 5 boys, 5 girls - along with 30 grandchildren and 10 great-grandchildren. They live together, are filial and affectionate. Every month, the extended family gathers once. The small house is bustling with laughter, warming with people's voices. That is a story that has just been reported by the press, touching many readers' hearts.
The article records simple but touching memories: when Mr. Vy was young, he went to sea, Mrs. Ngot worked in fields and raised livestock to raise children. Ten children grow up in poverty, but none are left behind. Father is strict, mother is tolerant - two sides of a silent life for their children.
Now, at an advanced age, they can live in the love of a warm big family. The children contribute monthly gifts to their parents, regularly visit, repair the house, and buy items. And every time they gather, the house is as crowded as a festival.
In a society with fewer and fewer children and more apart, the attachment of that extended family is both strange and admirable.
We do not discuss whether or not to have many children like before. Each stage and each situation has its own suitable criteria. But one thing is still true: family is a place to return to, a place to preserve love, and cannot be replaced by anything else.
Mr. Vy - Mrs. Ngot did not leave behind a billion-dollar fortune, nor did they have a high-class degree. But they have left behind the greatest fortune - lasting family love, kindness, children who know how to live a meaningful life, grandchildren who know how to return to their roots.
In an era where many elderly people live alone in a flourishing city, their children are sent to nursing homes, and are forgotten in a large, high-rise house - the image of a grandparent in Ha Trung surrounded by his children and grandchildren every month is a seemingly simple happiness but turns out to be extremely luxurious.
We do not encourage the increase of children, but we need to encourage the human values of traditional families: love, care, affection, solidarity. Those values are not outdated - we are only sometimes too hasty to forget.
In an industrial society, where family meals are increasingly sparse and the laughter between generations is increasingly bland, the story of Vy - Ngoc's family in Thanh Hoa is a warm bell: let's keep it together, as long as possible.
Because one day, money can buy everything - except for a full gathering, except for the feeling of holding parents' hands without being late.
