Vietnam: The Dilemma of Development

Vietnam has been hailed as the 2nd-fastest growing economy in Southeast Asia. Great news? Not quite. For development is a very strange thing. Cities strive for it endlessly. Yet, people of the developed nations tend to be in ceaseless search for cultures of less-developed nations to visit. The less structured a city is, the more joy a visitor often derives -- especially amongst those with a ferocious streak of adventure in them. Perhaps an example here would be timely. There were days when we would just walk the streets to wherever it would take us. Along the way, it is hard to miss the glimpses of the people's lifestyles. They would huddle about on street corners, a bowl of noodles in their hands -- the sight bore no pity, but rather, a sense of friendship. A subtle feeling of vicarious nostalgia tugged at me -- surely this must be the type of lifestyle my parents tell us they had lived: how it built unending friendships and experiences far lacking in today's developed world. Yes, it is a rather curious paradox.

As many would agree, development often takes people higher; lifting them from dilapidated houses and placing them in soaring buildings. A rather unspoken consequence of this is that in such exaltation, people are distanced from the one thing they rely on for survival -- the Earth and all the fruit it bears. In development, such land is often trampled upon as though they mattered little. In time, the land would become like so: wasted; spoilt beyond repair.

And when a country like Vietnam so develops, from whence would come our rice? As the people begin to don suits and demand a greater luxury, the life of a farmer inevitably becomes frowned upon; who would be left to feed the world? Vietnam is a massive producer of staple food, a trade flourished by the Mekong Delta that runs through the heart of the city: Ho Chi Minh. Should typical development occur, the world would experience a sudden food shortage.

Ah, but surely development seeks to push the limits of the human race. As we seek to understand who we are and what we can do, it is in such knowledge that we can stake our claim to dominance over all the Earth -- the mandate given to the first man by God. Surely development spurs the human race to achieve more. Surely that is something to praise? Indeed, and yet, it is akin to a tree reaching out for sunlight. In so doing, imagine if the tree were to uproot itself to stand taller. Such is the peril of development that people today find themselves in. For suddenly, nature is fighting back. We are desperate to push our roots back into the Earth where it belonged; as it should have been. Whether it is too late remains to be seen, and is not the point of this discussion.

And so, herein then lies the ultimate dilemma of all: do we cheer that a country like Vietnam is developing so rapidly?