Blind man amidst Saigon traffic

Yesterday I saw a blind man, cane first, feet followed, amidst really busy traffic.

He was neither assisted by a companion, dog or human being, nor by traffic alerts for the blind.

Yet he made it to the other side (without music from the Door) , and was on his way into an alley, which must be his way home.

I am sure his hearing must be extremely sensitive to compensate for his lack of eyesight.

Then I reflect back to my situation. I am  sure I have missed tons of signals during my trip: designer glasses, upscale bikes, Vespa resurgence, Western-style brewery, less road fatality and infrastructure improvement.

Still I have been blind to many situation, most obviously, the absence of the middle class.

Yes, more are out of the poverty level, but it will be another 10-20 years before we see the emergence of a “middle-class Vietnam“.

Since this society is inter-linked on a web model (extended families), we won’t see all-boats-rise for a while yet.

Case in point: the credit system has yet taken hold here because people have used to borrow from friends and relatives, and not institutions (which rely on home ownership as collateral). Banking, insurance and heavy industries are dominated by State-Owned Enterprises.

ATM‘s weren’t even around back in 2000 (one exception was at the Diamond Plaza).

Micro loan (similar approach has been successful in India), hui (turn-taking to borrow from the common pot) and pawning are still prevalent.

So, an economy whose rate of growth is only behind China and India, still functions under the old “trust”system, which further insulates Vietnam and impedes its otherwise ascension on world stage (i.e. access to a larger FDI pool.)

20 years from now, I hope to see Electronic Medical Records take hold here, as well as E-government and E-services. Vietnam Airline now allows self-check-in and there will be a traffic audio alerts to help our blind hero in his daily walk.

There was an Iranian film (the Willow Tree?) about a blind professor who after undergone surgery in France, decided that he did not like his new state of “seeing”.

Way philosophical for me, but the gist is : we can only control the smaller circle and  not the macro one.

To play God is to invite guilt. And I am sure our blind hero has every right to curse the dark (and traffic). Instead, he goes about his way, using cane for feeler and ears for sensors. Wonder what he hears everyday. Certainly, more than those who listen from their I-pods to tune out Saigon noisy traffic. Perhaps on the I-pod, we hear “Getting on to the other side” by the Door.