Survival and Values

Survival and Values

A mammal's biggest obligation is to itself, that is to say, to ensure that it survives, finds a mate, and has offspring. This instinct is ingrained, inveterate, and deep-rooted. Almost all of its behavior can be traced back to this process. But some mammals, especially the social ones, have developed an "awareness" of group consciousness and adopted a behavior commonly called "altruism" which sometimes necessitates sacrificing one's life to protect the survival of the group.

In humans, the most social mammal and highest evolved, altruism is common. However, there are some exceptions. Some humans, either through upbringing or some traumatic experiences, have somehow suppressed this trait. They are only concerned with themselves and their immediate family. They no longer care about the group at large. In other words, they only care about their own survival and that of their family, not the survival of the group. They, of course, know that if everybody in their group behaves like they do, that group would not survive. But they don't care. In them, selfishness is taken to the extreme. This aberration is sadly taking place in Vietnam and in Vietnamese community overseas. As a consequence, the survival of the Viet people is in danger because for the Vietnamese to have any chance to withstand the current take-over of Vietnam from China, every Vietnamese has to get together and fight for the fatherland. We cannot afford to have disunity, apathy, indifference, and lack of solidarity. We cannot afford bickerings among ourselves. Our enemy, the Chinese, would love to see us fighting among ourselves. That makes their effort to take over our country much easier.

As a philosopher who respects individual choices and values independence of spirit, I have to respect the values of those selfish humans---no human has any right to impose his own values over other humans', but respecting them does not entail a conclusion that the values of the selfish humans are morally right or uplifting or beneficial to the survival of the Vietnamese people.

I am writing these words, not from a platfom of self-righteous moralist, but deep from my heart. I no longer condemn nor express displeasure at selfish individuals. That holier-than-thou attitude is wrong and repulsive. I am merely appealing to the primordial feeling within every Vietnamese. That primordial feeling is called love for Vietnam, and fear of being assimilated by the Chinese, fear of seeing Vietnam disappear.