Thang Nguyen 555

Honorable as a virtue is time-tested.

In war or peace, man or woman, acts of valor or kindness were enduring if not eternal e.g. Joan of Arc, Mother Theresa, St Francis of Assisi, Thich Q Duc, Martin Luther King and Albert Sweizer…

They died young and left solid imprints. Their stories are worth to repeat to every generation.

Please, young man YMCA! Rise, fly and if necessary, melt as I often do (with wings of wax).

Bit more than I can chew (rarely use fork/knife)

Jump higher than I could land (Hapkido)

Throw a line farther than I could reel in (cau “ba cu”), an old neighbor, using a fishing rod in city alley

7th grade and freshman year twice, 10th grade none – worse things happened during war time

Say “Yes I do” like lyrics from Knock three times – on the ceiling”

Jolt our principle from his VIP-seating at the close of “Don’t let me down” (only to later attend his funeral)

Not listed on Vietnam’s first and only IBM graded SAT exam, resulting in unconfirmed news of my suicide (hand-graded list got posted a few days later). Naturally, I am allergic to machine-graded test, machine-prompt and machine learning.

Yet AI is here to stay, to nudge, to answer every question before we barely finish typing (OK, my artwork is AI-generated).

The hard part is articulating your statement of problem. Once done, we are more than halfway there.

To arrive at solution then execution, we need creative imagination, non-judgmental brainstorm, crowdsourcing and yes, AI-assisted data mining.

Then force-ranking, assigning risks, SWAT and swing it.

No risk no reward.

Just make sure whatever the course of action, do act honorably.

Use me as poster boy, of what not to act.

It costs a lot to make mistakes, then to recover, then to let it sink in and become part of your fabrics,

Still after “dopamine-detox” rehab, I came right back. One toe into the water at a time, then a splash, a swim, before sinking into the cold current of time and river.

When I turn around, behind me, I see not too many familiar faces.

Ahead, with becoming honorable as goal, I found it is still a far-reaching destiny as an eulogy version and not a cv version.

He or she was quite honorable: did not cheat on tests, or short on compliments, or forgetful when it comes to reciprocity.

A honorable man or woman, is hard to find.

Only in their absence or surrounded by J-6 people that you would notice the need for it.

Hang on to him/her till death do you part.

Some moments are memorable. But not all are honorable. Often it involved personal sacrifices. Those who are honorable are often humble. They know the game is long and time is short.

Honor is bestowed and belongs in a class of its own.

It lasts way after we are no more.