It's not always about the locals...

Just a few days ago I had my wallet stolen. It was my fault as I thought I was not careful enough to protect it from being picked pocketed.

Minh Nguyet and I went shopping for some jeans that I wanted to get for my baby brother in my upcoming trip to Canada. While I was trying on some jeans, I came out with my wallet in my hand and show her that the jeans fit. I then went back and tried on the second pair and this time left my wallet in the first new pair that I wanted to buy. Went I went back in to change into my original pair of jeans, I realized that my wallet was gone.

I told Minh Nguyet what happened and it was too late because the Vietnamese people in the store are not going to help. After talking with the manager about what happened, they flipped the blame on us for accusing them for not taking care of the customer.

This incident certainly hurts lots because part of my salary from March was in there along with my UNIS ID card, credit card, debit card, receipts from Singapore, etc... Indeed not a good day for me. Even now, I refuse to go on that street because of that incident.

Just the other day, we were driving on the highway out to the countryside to visit Minh Nguyet's grandfather's grave we had to slow down in the traffic as a fatality just happened 100 meters of us. Well guess what? Out of my own eyes, I saw two pickpockers working in between the motorbike traffic stealing wallets and purses from drivers as they slowly move around the accident scene. They were slowly opening personal bags, grabbing the money and then throwing them into a big garbage container next to the road. I saw one in action, and I screamed what the F@#$ are you doing? The one pick pocketer stopped his action and started screaming at me in Vietnamese and walked off. We then later drove up to a victim and told her that she been picked pocketed and her wallet already in the garbage cleaned out. She was shocked!!!

A good thing that Minh Nguyet stopped me from getting off the motorbike to confront the pick pocketer because I would have ended up in more trouble because people will lie and if you don't know the language, it will not help to resolve the situation.

I took a day or two to reflect on these incidents because it was the third pick pocketing within weeks of each other that was involved or close to. I had to ask myself why these events are spreading like wild fire and you are so hopeless or powerless to do something about it.

I can easily blame the pick pockets and label them as common criminals who are in desperation for money. The local Vietnamese people residing in these dangerous areas are lurking on the streets in broad daylight taking advantage of others because of their desperation for money. The question of why has crossed my mind and it is clear that their background has been unstable and rough that they have to turn to crime to fulfill their poor lifestyle or drug habits.

On the other hand, why was no one doing anything about it? It was sooo clear that 20 other motorbike people saw what was happening but no one did a thing about it? Why Why Why? What happen to the principles of respect, kindness, caring, and good heart for one another? After all you are the same race, come from the same background, same countryside and even perhaps from the same family.

Why did someone not contact the police? Why did someone not scream that your neighbor's wallet getting picked pocketed? Why did anyone not do anything?

I just realized that I am living in a culture that is very closed and its about keeping everything inside and restricting the amount of information to others. When it comes to helping someone else, it has no relevant value to do so. Just simply continue with your unhappy and hopeless lives knowing sooner or later someone going to take advantage of you when you least expect it.

Everyone is poor, the gap between the rich and the poor is very big, the police don't care because they are getting paid s@$% wages and they turn to corruption to increase their salaries. The government claims they are fighting corruption but in reality they are fighting with themselves protecting their corrupted investments and salaries.

I said to Minh Nguyet, it going to be a long time before Vietnam stabilize and become an attractive country to do business with. Yes, everyday something changes but until the government acts for their people instead of themselves, both locals and foreigners will still have to suffer from such day to day crimes and dishonesty until non-corrupted law enforcement enters the society.

Another strong thought that brought me tears is that I have met many good Vietnamese people who are optimistic and are motivated for something better in their lives. They have realized that their country is in chaos and want out because there is no hope and faith in their own government for them to have a protected and prosperous future. While we have ambitious people in one side of the world, Its not fair that people in my own country who are complete slackers and take advantage of the western culture system not realizing that there are people who are suffering from corruption, lack of food, lack of shelter, lack of clean water and importantly the lack of hope that their lives will improve despite their impoverish conditions.