Happiness is around us

For me, being born into this world, being human to experience all the emotions of joy and sadness in this poetic world, that is happiness.

Everyone in life has a hometown to love and remember, a childhood to look back to with nostalgia. The happiness of my childhood was the early mornings waiting for my mother to go to the faraway market with rice paper and rice cakes; the noons waiting for my father at the village entrance; the evenings bathing in the river with friends, the happy laughter echoing along the waves; the moonlit nights watching the falling stars, sending dreams to the distant galaxy. The happiness of my childhood was also the perfect scores on the pages of notebooks with the scent of paper, the new clothes my mother bought each time spring came...

Growing up a little, I happily overcame myself through important exams in life; my heart filled with joy as I witnessed my father's satisfied smile and the tears of happiness rolling down my mother's cheeks when she held in her hand the admission notice to the university I had always dreamed of. In that emotional moment, I realized a quiet yet profound, simple yet noble happiness hidden deep in my parents' affectionate eyes when I had truly passed the stage of childhood to enter the wide door of life, even though that maturity was exchanged for so much hardship from my father and my mother's youth. The happiness of parents carries great sacrifice and is always strangely simple.

The day I left my homeland, the luggage I brought with me were gifts containing so much love, trust and hope from my loved ones in my family, relatives, and neighbors. To me, that is happiness. Happiness when I can live fully in the precious and loving sentiments of my homeland. And I know that I have to try very hard to be worthy of the trust, love, care and expectations of so many people, so that I never lose happiness - a precious asset on every path of life - even though life is still full of hardships and difficulties...

Now I feel happy to live, work and contribute with all my passion for my career in my hometown Dong Nai, which I have chosen as my home. This autumn morning, ending a busy work week, I relaxed in the peaceful scene of the riverside town. The Dong Nai River today is so beautiful, even though the water hyacinth still flows like every flood season. The river breeze caresses, carrying the cool, fresh scent of nature in the morning. The first rays of warm dawn shine down on the river, gently knocking on the door, calling both banks to wake up. On the other side of Cu Lao, on this side of the city, the New Bridge connects the happy banks there, on this side, connects the vast open road, blending with the Airport to create the shape of Dong Nai rising up, strong and radiant in the shape of a flying dragon. Walking by the river, my heart is filled with many emotions, happiness not only for me but for many people.

In the midst of the hustle and bustle of life, someone is still busy searching for happiness far away at the end of the road, forgetting that it exists right where they are walking; it is not something too big but comes from the small, simple things every day. It is when we feel peace in our hearts every morning when we wake up, it is family reunion meals and joy after each day of work, it is the loving words shared by husband, wife and children for each other, or simply the friendly glances and smiles between strangers when they accidentally look back at each other...

Happiness is not only when we bring joy to ourselves but also in giving, sending good things to people around us, the community and society. And, we are only truly happy when we have a compassionate, tolerant heart, a heart that knows how to be moved by everyday moments, knows how to cherish the value of truth - goodness - beauty and appreciate meaningful, sacred things. Happiness is still very close within reach of each person, always present around us in simple things.

Hoang Phu

Source: https://baodongnai.com.vn/van-hoa/202510/hanh-phuc-quanh-ta-64e12fe/