The old lady in the painting, over sixty years old, was busy collecting scrap metal in the days leading up to Tet, selling it for a few pennies and saving up lucky money for her children. On the first day of Tet, she took out a bright red envelope and gave it to her two grandchildren. One grandchild happily took the lucky money envelope and ran to show it to his mother, the other grandchild tore it open and pouted, “It’s only twenty thousand…”. She was “shocked” by the children’s behavior. Her heart must have been sad because many values ​​were crumbling…

Awkward situations

That is when we are excitedly putting each new bill worth ten thousand, twenty thousand into a bright red envelope, thinking about tomorrow, the day after tomorrow handing it to the children with the wishes of "eating fast and growing up", "studying well and being obedient", "touching your dreams"... then suddenly we hear the children telling the story of how last year, aunt A, uncle B "pulled candy" because they only gave lucky money... twenty thousand. That is when we are saving up, calculating and weighing to set aside a sum of money to give to our grandchildren and feel elated with joy because of our sincere concern, but the child in front of us is not very satisfied with the modest bill lying in the red envelope. Then some children even throw the money towards their parents while they laugh it off as if it is normal. That's when we accidentally hear children "complain" about the fact that lucky money is getting more and more expensive, not enough to buy a smartphone, iPad or not worthy of the New Year's "song" that they have memorized and tried their best to "perform"...

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That is when we hear adults around us smacking our lips comparing the other family's lucky money to only half of ours, we take out our wallets, click our tongues and complain about how we "lost" nearly ten million in lucky money during Tet, whisper to each other to receive large lucky money to repay someone who has helped us... Our minds are heavy with sadness because the good customs have been and are being transformed. That is when we surf social networks and encounter countless anxious comments asking each other "how much is enough to give this year" or suggestions "let's come up with a base lucky money to keep our bodies healthy and our minds free from calculations"... The beauty of traditional Tet is gradually turning into a burden that makes adults anxious and worried, and children curious and calculating how much? The beautiful custom of giving lucky money to young people and wishing good health to the elderly through bright red envelopes is gradually moving away from its true value.

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