Khoa Học Gia Dương Nguyệt Ánh Phát Biểu Trong Ngày Truyền Thống Của Hội Khuyến Học Nguyễn Xuân Vinh

[02/07/2005 - Tác giả: admin1 - Vietnam Review]

Dương Nguyệt Ánh, 01.07.2005

Mặc dù cộng đồng người Việt ở Hoa Kỳ còn rất mới so với những cộng đồng di dân khác, nhưng chỉ trong 30 năm ngắn ngủi, chúng ta đã từ những người tị nạn Việt Nam buồn tủi và trắng tay trở thành những công dân Hoa Kỳ đầy tự tin và tự hào hôm nay. Tự tin vì những thành công cá nhân và tự hào về những đóng góp của cộng đồng chúng ta đối với quê hương mới.

Kính thưa quý vị Phụ Huynh và các em học sinh thân mến,

Trước hết Nguyệt Ánh xin chân thành cảm tạ Hội Khuyến Học đã có nhã ý mời gia đình Nguyệt Ánh đến Saint Louis nhân lễ phát giải thưởng Khuyến Học hôm nay. Rất tiếc là các con của Nguyệt Ánh đang bận học thi cuối khóa nên không đi được, vì vậy chồng Nguyệt Ánh cũng phải ở lại nhà để giúp các con. Chứ không thì Ánh cũng rất muốn cho các con đến đây để gặp gỡ những bạn Việt Nam cùng trang lứa và để được hãnh diện lây về những thành quả của các bạn.

Đối với quý vị phụ huynh có mặt hôm nay, Nguyệt Ánh xin được gửi lời chúc mừng đến tất cả quý vị trước sự thành công rực rỡ của con em. Mặc dù cộng đồng người Việt ở Hoa Kỳ còn rất mới so với những cộng đồng di dân khác, nhưng chỉ trong 30 năm ngắn ngủi, chúng ta đã từ những người tị nạn Việt Nam buồn tủi và trắng tay trở thành những công dân Hoa Kỳ đầy tự tin và tự hào hôm nay. Tự tin vì những thành công cá nhân và tự hào về những đóng góp của cộng đồng chúng ta đối với quê hương mới. Chúng ta có phi hành gia, khoa học gia, bác sĩ, nha sĩ, luật sư, chuyên gia mọi ngành, rồi dân biểu, nghị viên, v.v.. đang phục vụ cho quốc gia và xã hội Hoa Kỳ.

Chúng ta có bao nhiêu thương gia và công ty lớn nhỏ đang đóng góp vào sự phồn thịnh của kinh tế Hoa Kỳ. Chúng ta có cả vỏ sĩ vô địch, đấu thủ dã cầu chuyên nghiệp và gần đây nhất là những thành quả trong lãnh vực điện ảnh với những phim của đạo diễn Việt, tài tử Việt, cốt truyện Việt đã liên tiếp đoạt nhiều giải thưởng quốc tế. Theo thống kê thì có hơn 300 người Mỹ gốc Việt với ít nhất là 3 bằng phát minh trong tay. Ông Đoàn Trí Trung, Phó Chủ Tịch công ty Micron là một chuyên gia với 132 bằng phát minh. Về phía phụ nữ, phải kể đến bà Lê Duy Loan với 20 bằng phát minh cho công ty Texas Instruments.

Điều cần phải nhấn mạnh là đằng sau những tên tuổi và những thành công rực rỡ này chính là những bậc phụ huynh: những người cha, người mẹ, người anh, người chị tị nạn đã liều chết vượt biển tìm tự do ngày trước, rồi lúc mới đặt chân đến Hoa Kỳ đã phải vất vả kiên nhẫn vừa đi học vừa đi làm toàn thời gian, vừa nuôi dậy con em bên này vừa lo cho phần gia đình còn lại ở Việt Nam. Sự thành công của con em chúng ta hôm nay là do truyền thống giáo dục và gia đình mạnh mẽ của người Việt, là kết quả của những công ơn vô bờ của các thế hệ cha anh, nhất là những hy sinh của chiến sĩ Mỹ, Việt xưa và nay cho chúng ta có được tự do và cơ hội, điều kiện để mà thành công. Nguyệt Ánh xin được thay mặt các em gửi đến quý vị phụ huynh và các chiến sĩ lòng tri ân sâu xa.

Bây giờ, Nguyệt Ánh xin phép đưọc trò chuyện với các em bằng tiếng Anh.

Dear students and friends,
It is a great pleasure for me to be here today and to have this opportunity to personally congratulate each of you on your great achievements. I have no doubt that you will accomplish even better and bigger things as you continue on your academic paths, seeing that you already possess all the necessary ingredients: determination, self-discipline, pride, intelligence, and family support. Otherwise, you wouldn’t be here in the first place. Now, note that determination is first on my list while intelligence is next to last. This is a very important point because there is a popular myth that Asian American students get good grades because they were born smart. This might sound flattering at first but when you really think about it, that myth doesn’t do anyone any good! It provides an excuse to the other kids who don’t happen to do well in school: “Oh that’s because they weren’t born with a natural advantage like Asians”. At the same time, that myth takes away your personal credit: the fact that you chose to work hard and sacrifice a lot of fun in order to achieve what you achieved. You succeed in school because you are determined and because your parents are determined. Don’t let anyone cheat you of that pride. By the way, people admire success that comes from hard work while regarding the kind that comes from luck or genes with indifference at best or jealousy at worst. Jealousy often leads to racial prejudice and ill wills. So we all need to do our best to put that myth to rest.

As you continue on to college, you will find that determination and self-discipline are the two most important requirements. At present, you are finding yourself in a mixed bag. Some of your classmates go to school because they really want to. Others show up only because they have to. It is relatively easier (note I didn’t say easy, just easier) to shine against such student body mixed with winners as well as losers. The college crowd will be totally different. Most people are there only because they really want to be there. The better the college or university, the brighter and more hard-working your classmates will be and the higher the performance standards will be. Your IQ alone will not help, as you will be in the company of the best and the brightest. In such environment, your determination and self-discipline will be key.

I’ve only talked about academic success so far. Just like your excellent high school grades might earn you a place in a good university but hold no guarantee for your subsequent graduation, a college degree only launches you on a good career path and put you at a great starting point on that path. Don’t get me wrong. It is a GREAT start. Nevertheless, it is only a start. Upon graduation from college, the majority of you will join the workforce at some entry-level position and begin climbing up your career ladder. You will find that in the early stages your career advancement depends mostly on you: your technical ability, your competence and work ethics. As you rise up through the rank and begin assuming leadership and/or management position, your success and therefore career advancement will increasingly depend on others: your team members, your partners, your subordinates, employees, etc. They have to succeed as owners of the various parts in order for you to succeed as leader of the whole. The larger your leadership or management responsibility, the more you will depend on others and the more you will need to rely on a different set of tools in your toolkit, something called emotional intelligence.

In short, emotional intelligence or EI refers to the ability to perceive, assess and positively influence one's own and other people's emotions. How you motivate yourself and others, how you interact with and influence others all have to do with EI. You know, looking back at my own career, I truly believe that my EI has helped me tremendously. I have several disadvantages as compared to my colleagues at the Naval Surface Warfare Center: being female, being of Asian descent and not speaking English as a native language. However, it only took me a relatively short time to rise to my first leadership position in a place where being bright and competitive is the norm and not the exception. I was in fact the youngest person ever occupying some of the positions I’ve held in my career so far, including my current one. I am presently the youngest Director for Science and Technology that the Naval Surface Warfare Center has ever had. My counterparts, meaning other Directors of Science and Technology at other Navy Research Centers, are all older than me and are all white male. So how do I get to be the leader of US best scientists and engineers in the field of energetics? Not because I am the smartest of the smartest, not because I have the highest degree or the most experience. Yes I do have to be at least as technically competent as they are in order to earn their respect but I also have to have something else: the ability to lead. Now, you cannot lead without willing followers, can’t you? So how do you get people to follow you? By having a passion and vision for what you do, by displaying exemplary character, by staying true to your principles and most of all by having a genuine interest in the welfare of your followers. As you can see, all of these have to do with emotional intelligence, one’s EQ rather than IQ.

I’m telling you all of this not to brag about my accomplishments but to make a point. That point is you need to start building up your EI now, in parallel and in addition to your academic training. Here’s an example of one aspect of EI, I call it character building. What differentiates a tennis ball from an apple when both are thrown on the floor? The apple gets smashed immediately while the tennis ball bounces back as if nothing happened. I would like for each of you to think of yourself as a resilient tennis ball, always bouncing back and ready for the next opportunity no matter how many times you get thrown on the floor. Failure is what we often choose to label a disappointing outcome, like not getting a result that we desire, a job that we want, but true failure only happens when we learn nothing from a disappointing outcome to better prepare us for the next opportunity. And there will always be a next opportunity, if you are resilient enough to hang on to your dream.

Here’s another example of EI. Learn from your action and act from your learning. It sounds simple enough yet so many of us fail to do just that. Once you’ve taken a course of action, stop to reflect on what you did right and what you might do differently next time. Take a keen interest in observing and learning about yourself, others and how you can better interact and communicate with them, especially those who are most important to you. Consider it’s your responsibility to improve your relationship with them, not the other way around. The world will be a much better place if we all will take responsibility and take charge rather than waiting for someone else to make the first move.

One last thought I would like to leave with you. It is about your identity. Who are you? Are you American or Vietnamese? Your look Vietnamese yet you may have never been to Viet Nam. You don’t look like your Caucasian neighbor, yet you are every bit American as she or he is, from a political standpoint. The correct answer should be that you are Vietnamese American. And there are special privileges and responsibilities associated with your identity. You have the unique opportunity of choosing the best of both cultures for your way of life. You can better compete and succeed because you are better at thinking “out of the box”, meaning you are very good at seeing things from multiple perspectives because you are bi-lingual and bi-cultural from a very young age. While you strive to be exemplary American citizens, I hope that you will take special interest in the welfare of fellow Vietnamese here and abroad. Unlike other groups of immigrants who came to the United States for economic reasons, your parents and grandparents came as refugees of war, in desperate search of freedom. I hope that you will take it upon yourself to learn and understand the truth about the Viet Nam war: a war that your parents and grandparents had fought with courage and conviction, a war that 58000 Americans and 250,000 South Vietnamese soldiers had given their lives to, a war that certainly was not lost because South Viet Nam lacked the will to fight as the anti-war activists in this country would want everyone to believe. As children and grandchildren of the Vietnamese freedom fighters, I hope that you will be the staunchest advocates for freedom and democracy. Most of all, I hope that you will join us in the fight for freedom and democracy for Viet Nam.

Once again, my congratulations to each and every one of you and my best wishes for great success in all of your future endeavors.

Thank you.

Hình: Khoa Học Gia Dương Nguyệt Ánh.