I am serious. Are you lucky? We all work hard. So many of us work really hard. And some people don’t really work very hard at all. I work hard. You probably also work hard.
Maybe?? CEO’s work hard. Probably. Do they work harder than you? Or are they luckier than you??
I have been way more emotional in Vietnam than I remember being in China. Does that mean that I have become more emotional in my old age (I am not old). Or that I am a sucker?
I don’t know.
But I feel guilty for being SO LUCKY!!
I know that it may seem that I haven’t been lucky. I did not grow up wealthy - I was not the most beautiful or the most popular. I lost my dad when I was 24 years old. But I AM LUCKY.
Does anyone believe that they work harder than a person who is living in Vietnam? Or in Canada for that matter? Obviously you work harder than some. Does someone who works at Tim Hortons work less hard than someone who works for the government or an oil company? Or are those people (government and oil company) just luckier?????? You decide for yourself. And maybe I felt differently than I do today when I was younger and less experienced.
I can tell you that I am so damn lucky! I do not think that lucky people are exempt from experiencing hardship as I have definitely experienced my fair share. But I was born in Canada - after WWII. I have only known peace. I have never experienced communism. I have never had to flee a country because of who I am or what I believe. Damn - I am luckier than most!
I am not sure that I was always aware of this. It is something that I have become more aware of every day. AND - let me take this opportunity to encourage everyone that can - to TRAVEL. Coming to Vietnam - a lightbulb went off for me tonight! THIS is why I think travelling is so important.
Most people that I know will research before heading off on a holiday. Vietnam - you need to bargain - don’t pay full price - it is part of the FUN - don’t be a sucker - don’t fall for the TOURIST TAX. Of course!! Great advice! I wonder what all the reviews on TripAdvisor etc have done to the average (less cutthroat) Vietnamese person trying to feed their family?
Of course there are scams - and really - we fall into the category of not wanting to be the “sucker” and not wanting anyone to “scam” us, SO - we do the research. BUT - with reviews and people eager to share their “expertise” it has become a GAME (in my opinion) for travellers. How LOW can we go with these vendors?? We read the comments and we listen to the ENGLISH SPEAKING (educated) tour guides. And then - a lovely woman who tries to sell us gorgeous “pop up” cards that have been meticulously crafted. Did she make them? I don’t know? But someone did! We absolutely want to buy some of these beautiful cards (we did our research). We finally decided to buy some from a lovely woman named Annie (we did not know her name at the time). Mark accidentally took out 10,000 Dong to offer her for the cards instead of 100,000 (as the internet says) - easy to do - soooo many zeros!!. And - the look on her face was gutting. It was like she had been kicked in the stomach!
Obviously we corrected our mistake. But we had also mentioned that we had “heard” what the cards were really worth. Maybe we had “sucker” written all over us but I don’t think so. Something broke. She asked us who - who told us what to pay for her cards? She told us that our tour guide made money by recommending a tailor to us (something we knew). And why should they decide this while someone like her had to “beg” (her words) to support her family. If you are a pessimist you will say we were “taken”. I don’t think so - and neither did Mark.
I was gutted and I felt this immediate sense of privilege. I could not shake the feeling of how damn lucky I was. I was chatting with one of our boys recently and mentioned how “blessed” we felt. And he said - “Yay! #blessed.” We have worked hard our entire life. But so has Annie.
Later in the evening we encountered her on another street in the market while we were enjoying a chardonnay and some fabulous Brie (hard to find good cheese in Japan). I was determined that if we saw her again, we would buy more of her cards ( they were exquisite and on our list of things to purchase).
We bought 6 more cards from her. We paid what “the internet” tells us is acceptable. And she was grateful. She gave us envelopes for our cards. She shook our hands and thanked us. And then she gave us a thank you gift.
If any of what transpired tonight makes me a sucker. I feel a lot better about myself than I did previously.
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