It has been quiet these days in Hanoi, which is experiencing social distancing because of Covid-19. Nearly all shops are closed. Streets are deserted. No one wants this quietness, but it is necessary for the existence of every individual and the whole country.

Families are isolated from other families. Villages are isolated from other villages. Communes are isolated from other communes. Districts are isolated from districts. And provinces are isolated from other provinces.

During the isolation days, people have opportunities to lead slow lives and spend time to think about themselves. They may become less arrogant and unexpectedly humble.

Man claims to be the lord of all beings, the power of all things. Man is an advanced animal that has reached the highest evolution level. He has a brain to think. He can walk with feet and use two hands to work.

Man can domesticate wild animals, teach cows and buffalos to plough, force donkeys and horses to lead carriage, and force dogs to keep house. Even lions can be caught by man and put into cages. Even elephants, which are so strong that they can pull down trees and crush forests, are also forced to work for man.

Homeless people in India

Man is so clever that he can turn a live pig into canned pork ready to eat after a production chain. Man can create an atomic submarine that can dive half a kilometer to the sea bottom to explore the ocean. A man, Neil Amstrong, half a century ago, could drive an amphibious spacecraft and land on the Moon.

‘Conquer nature’, ‘explore nature’, ‘nature reclamation’, and ‘struggling with ferocious nature’ – these are the words used by humans to show their desire for victory over nature. They forget that mankind is one of the countless species nourished, embraced and protected by Mother Nature.

‘Conquer nature’, ‘explore nature’, ‘nature reclamation’, and ‘struggling with ferocious nature’ – these are the words used by humans to show their desire for victory over nature. They forget that mankind is one of the countless species nourished, embraced and protected by Mother Nature.

Millions of hectares of forests all over the globe have sunk deep under hydropower reservoirs. The blue color has disappeared, while the white has shown up.

The Three Gorges Dam in China produces nearly 100 billion kwh, but it has engulfed 13 cities, 140 towns and 1,600 villages, and forced 1.43 million people to leave their ancestral homeland. Thousands of historical sites and a subcultural region have also disappeared.

Someone said that humans can eat all animals with four legs except the four legs of a chair, and humans can eat all birds that have two legs except the the two legs of a ladder. People catch poisonous snakes and soak them into wine. Tigers, panther deers, bears, monkeys and pythons are all slaughtered and processed into dishes at parties, while their bones are used to make bone glue.

People try to dig up and excavate to extract from the earth womb natural resources and use these resources for their modern lives. As a result, natural resources are getting exhausted. This means that we are consuming all the riches left by our ancestors and we may not have anything more for the next generations.

Man proclaims himself the lord of all beings who has power over life and death. Man mistreats nature and despises all things. But, in fact, man is poor and pitiful. He is even more pitiful than the tigers that are used to make bone glue, and the snakes that are soaked in wine.

Man makes every effort to exploit forests and catch fish in rivers. As a result, green forests have been devastated, animals have been killed and wild herbs have disappeared. And people have to live in an environment with ecological imbalance.

People burn forests to clear land for cultivation, fell ancient trees, and turn forestland into bare hills. After that, they hurry after each other to plant forests and protect watershed forests.

People organize industrial production and emit toxic smoke into the environment, throw solid waste into the environment, and discharge dirty waste into rivers. After that, they hurry after each other to clean the environment and adapt to climate change.

They poison water sources and the air themselves, spray pesticides on vegetables, and then spend big money to carry out scientific research to make medicine to treat cancer and diabetes.

They inundate cultural and historical relicts under reservoir beds, sell antiques, destroy temples, and then organize cultural festivals and call on everyone to build cultural environments.

People trigger armed wars, trade wars and biological wars, and then powerful countries sit together to discuss solutions to keep peace and build the earth into a common peaceful house.

It seems that human beings can do anything. However, human beings become miserable when they meet viruses.

According to worldometers.info, as of 14:00 on April 10 (Vietnam time), the number of deaths from Covid-19 had reached 95,766 worldwide, while the number of infections was 1,605,277, and the number of serious cases 49,145.

The powerful United States which sends spaceships to the moon, creates submarines crossing the ocean, and builds missiles crossing the continents, the richest country in the world, has also been turned upside down by coronavirus. In beautiful Italy on the Mediterranean coast, more than 18,000 people have died.

Spacecraft, submarines and nuclear missiles seem to be unable to compete with invisible viruses which can change rapidly.

Even powerful economies have fallen into crisis. The oil price has been sliding. More than 10 million workers in the US have applied for unemployment allowances. The world's leading economic corporations have been driven by the invisible Covid-19. The World Trade Organization (WTO) predicts that global trade turnover will drop much more strongly than the 12.6 percent decrease seen in the 2009 crisis.

Humans have been beaten up by the invisible viruses. How small, weak and fragile humans are! Will they continue to be arrogant in the future and continue to believe that they are the Lord of all species with the power of life and death?

Everyone should blend together with nations and humanity. Humans need to integrate with nature. Do not demolish and build later. Do not destruct and then cultivate. No confrontation.

People need to place themselves in nature and live in peace with all living beings. 

Suong Nguyet Minh 

University students, teachers make robots, medical devices for COVID-19 fight

Students and lecturers from several universities in the country have made and donated robots and medical devices to hospitals and quarantine areas to serve the fight against COVID-19.

Coronavirus: Five of the countries most at risk from famine in 2020

As the World Food Programme warns of the worst crisis since WWII, which countries are most vulnerable?