Like a crane flying to the sky

In 1946-1947, he joined the Independence Drama Troupe with artists Dao Mong Long, Si Tien... The troupe toured the Central provinces to propagate and encourage people to resist the French. In 1948, he was elected General Secretary of the Resistance Culture Association of Hung Yen province, then appointed Principal of Phan Thanh High School (Thai Binh). In 1951-1952, he held the position of Principal of Viet Bac Pedagogical School. From 1953 to 1957, he held the position of Principal of the Central Intermediate Pedagogical School. From 1958 to 1980, he taught at the Faculty of Literature, Hanoi University of Science. From 1981 to 1990, he taught at the Faculty of Literature - Journalism, Ho Chi Minh City University of Science (now the University of Social Sciences and Humanities, Ho Chi Minh City National University). Since 1988, he was elected as President of the Ho Chi Minh City Literature Research and Teaching Association. Since his retirement, Professor Hoang Nhu Mai has also held the position of Principal of Van Hien Private University and Principal of Truong Vinh Ki Private High School, Ho Chi Minh City. In 1984, Professor Hoang Nhu Mai was awarded the title of Professor, and in 1990, he received the title of People's Teacher. For his contributions to the resistance war and national construction, Professor Hoang Nhu Mai was awarded noble medals: Second-class Anti-French Resistance Medal (1961), First-class Anti-American Resistance Medal (1985), First-class Labor Medal (1995).

If counting from 1943, when he started participating in the education sector, until now, exactly 70 years, Professor Hoang Nhu Mai has devoted himself to the cause of cultivating people as President Ho Chi Minh taught: "For the benefit of ten years, we must plant trees, for the benefit of a hundred years, we must cultivate people". Professor Hoang Nhu Mai is a teacher, a cultural and social activist, and more than that, a multi-talented artist. In 2005, the Education Publishing House published the work Hoang Nhu Mai - Anthology (selected and introduced by Associate Professor Tran Huu Ta). This can be considered a work of a literary life, of high quality and especially rich in content. The work consists of two main parts: Part one (Research and criticism) includes research works on culture, literature and reformed theater. Part two (Memoirs and creations) includes memoirs, children's stories, plays and poems. As a generation of students of Professor Hoang Nhu Mai, and later a colleague who participated in teaching the subject of modern Vietnamese literature (after 1945), I was fortunate to enjoy the "broken furrows" of the Teacher when accessing the textbook Modern Vietnamese Literature (1945 - 1960) published by the Education Publishing House in 1961. Many generations of students of the Faculty of Literature (Hanoi University) still remember clearly the image of the teacher with silver hair like silk, bright eyes, a voice endowed with a resonant and warm voice, a demeanor that was both leisurely and like an artist on stage who inspired studious students, further increasing their love for the country and homeland through the poems and prose that suddenly "grew wings" from the Teacher's lectures. The secret to the Teacher's conquest of listeners, I always thought, was nothing other than his deep love for people and life. Or in other words, from a vast, kind heart. He never spoke loftily, he was unfamiliar with the academic way, he had the ability to turn the most complicated things into simple, honest things. Only later, when I grew up, did I realize: beauty is simplicity, just as truth is always simple. In 1986, on the occasion of the 30th anniversary of the founding of the Faculty of Literature (Hanoi University), he came from Ho Chi Minh City with his colleagues and students of the Faculty on a big festival day. Standing next to him, I felt as if he had just brought the warmth of a sunny and windy land in the South to the North in the chilly month of October. On that occasion, he wrote simple, sincere and touching lines of poetry: "Teachers, some dead, some alive/ Students buried in the battlefields/ Thirty years on a journey/ Coming back here, there is both sadness and joy/ May we burn incense together/ Those who have passed away, come back here" (Returning to the Faculty of Literature). In the work Hoang Nhu Mai - Collection, 36 of his poems are selected to be published. Anyone who has the opportunity to read them will see a poetic soul, passionate about life and people. Seemingly without technique, seemingly unfamiliar with ideologies, his poems spring up from life, a life that is never boring. I think it is the optimism and joy of life that has helped him live a long, healthy, and intelligent life as we see today, before he passed away.

The career of cultivating people that the Teacher has devoted for 70 years is a lesson, a shining example for generations of young teachers to follow. But I also think that, creating the thickness, height, and depth of a teacher in the true sense, from the beginning to the end of his educational career, the Teacher always had a deep and strong awareness of the connection between school and society. I still remember the words the Teacher used to remind me when I was being taught: "Theory is gray but the tree of life is forever green". During the years that I (and many other colleagues) were guided by the Teacher, the Teacher still only considered himself a patient ferryman, an eternal gardener. That modest quality is not easy to find in people around us. Looking at the Teacher's biography, anyone can recognize a very simple thing: perhaps success in life, as someone said, is due to "fate". But through the example of the Teacher's tireless work, I see that it is the result of hard work, patience; the result of a strong belief in the final victory of justice and beauty. The Teacher's life is not simple, smooth, only walking on paths full of fragrant flowers, only full of ecstatic songs. After many years with the Teacher, I have come to deeply realize that: the Teacher himself is at ease, has attained enlightenment more than many people even in the most dangerous situations on the path of life. It seems that I do not see the Teacher sad, even less do I see the Teacher falling into "extreme misery", it seems that the Teacher has the magic to turn nothing into something, to turn defeat into victory. Not at all, on the contrary, the Teacher knows how to balance his mind, knows very well the "threshold" of life, he knows how to "give" and "receive" in harmony according to the spirit of Buddhism. Truly, from the bottom of my heart, at this moment, I do not want to talk about what the Teacher has done, but only want to contemplate and share a very simple thing – how the Teacher lived among us.

But alas, how many people can overcome the harsh laws of nature “birth, aging, sickness and death”! Then comes the day that no one wants, but cannot resist – the last human being returns to the earth, perhaps because “people are flowers of the earth”? Professor Hoang Nhu Mai passed away on September 27, 2013. My article, at this moment, is like a stick of incense offered to the soul of my Teacher, of yours, of us. In me, at this moment, suddenly two special feelings are mixed: sorrow and pride. Sorrow for saying goodbye to a Human being with a capital letter “-”. Pride because this world once gave birth to a Human being like Professor – People’s Teacher Hoang Nhu Mai.