The old man just leisurely stepped back, lightly supported his grandchild's hand, wiped the sweat stains on his forehead and said: "Well, take a break and have a drink, grandchild". Not long after, the child got on the motorbike himself, pedaled straight away...
We grew up with memorized slogans: "try a little harder", "Don't give up". From a young age, we have always been taught to strain ourselves to accelerate, but few people teach us how to let go of the steering wheel at the right time. Those sayings are not wrong, but in real life, trying harder is often not courage, but blind stubbornness.
She is the woman who endured her gambling and abusive husband for decades just because she was afraid that the two words "divorce" would embarrass the family. She is the manager who tried to carry a loss-making project worth billions of dong, burning the last savings just because she put aside her self-esteem and refused to admit her failure. She is the drinking parties all night until her stomach is punctured just because she respected a few words of challenge at the banquet table.
Not everything that is kept for a long time is precious, sometimes the more you hug it, the more blood your hands will shed. A good chef knows how to lift the pan off the stove when the food is just cooked, if you overheat it for a minute, the delicious dish becomes bitter.
Long-distance drivers know the rule: Being good at downhill driving is not as good as someone who knows how to brake at the right time in front of a corner. Yet in life, many people mistakenly believe that rushing straight ahead regardless of the deep abyss is the bravery.
Knowing how to stop is not a formality, but a sobriety to recognize one's limits. The harsh reality is that some people spend their youth selling their back to the sky, working day and night to climb onto the director's chair, and then collapse on the hospital bed with piles of court fees files when they have not had enough to eat a full meal with their children. Some people spend half their lives polishing themselves to please the world, and when they look back, they realize that the person who suffers the deepest hurt is themselves.
At a certain age, maturity is not measured by what we accumulate, but counted by what we are brave enough to let go. Stop a bloody argument before throwing insults at each other. Stop an endless meeting at eight o'clock in the evening to go home and eat a warm bowl of rice with your old mother. Stop the greed for accumulation so that the body can breathe.
Human life is not an endless marathon to see who is exhausted first. It is a journey of rhythm. The person who goes to the end of the road is not necessarily someone who runs tirelessly, but someone wise enough to stop at the right time, keeping their feet and heart from being crushed in the vortex.
