It's okay to not be famous!

Author: Luong Nguyen An Dien

It's Okay Not to Be Famous!

Happiness is also just so mediocre so : To live a normal life but with dignity .​​​​​​​​​​

Studying must choose a “prestigious” major and school. Working must also choose a “prestigious” place. Life will be meaningless if you cannot do extraordinary things. These are ambitions that can be found in any young person today; but behind that are also their confusions when choosing life: Who am I, what do I want, and where am I in this life?

The aura of fame and prestige is not only the urge and obsession of the people of our country. In September 2017, in a series of editorials (Op-Ed) of The New York Times for young people during the school opening season, journalist An Dien came across and devoured an article that was the inspiration for him to publish this book. Even the title "It's OK Not to Be Famous!" is borrowed from the title of the article: "You'll Never Be Famous — And That's OK". The author of the article, Ms. Emily Esfahani Smith - a famous psychologist - pointed out that many American students today always want to change the world. Young people in the US also think that a meaningful life is one that requires doing extraordinary or prestigious things, such as: becoming famous on Instagram; starting a famous company; or ending a humanitarian crisis.

Ms. Smith admits that having aspirations and ideals is an essential part of youth. However, social networks have made many people equate the purpose and meaning of life with the halo of fame; extraordinary lives suddenly become the norm on the Internet. With her practical research experience, Ms. Smith has come to completely opposite conclusions. The most meaningful life is not the extraordinary life; it is the ordinary life but full of character and dignity . A meaningful life will allow you to connect and contribute to the community in any way, no matter how small. And it is these seemingly simple things, not the halo of fame, that will bring true meaning to each person's life. The author tells students: You do not need to save the world; just live a life that allows each person to achieve all their dreams and ambitions within reach, regardless of the circumstances. That will be a fulfilling life.

Those simple but extremely beautiful messages have urged journalist An Dien to share them with more young Vietnamese people. However, in the age of social networks, a shared article will also slip away very quickly like a human finger scrolling through Facebook. The way to make those messages stay with readers a little longer is to systematize and package them into a small book. From the encouragement and "promotion" of Anbooks's editorial board, this book was born in a very short period of time - 15 days - from an author who has been "making a living" by working as an English journalist for more than 10 years. As An Dien shared, he simply thought that he would publish a book that did not pretentiously instruct or teach anyone; just recording what he had experienced himself, adding a little observation with the eyes of a journalist, plus a little research to prove that the theories in it had a basis, then it would probably be okay.

Divided into 3 chapters with 15 stories, the content of the book does not deviate from the main theme: Well, it doesn't matter if you're not famous! Because each person, each of us has, is, and can live a normal life, not a mediocre one, or a simple but dignified life. With a humorous and somewhat "silly" writing style, the book promises to make readers smile with messages that are profound, gentle, and simple. The people who made the book do not have any great ambitions, they just hope it will be like a small coffee shop hidden in a dead-end alley, so that readers can take a break, wait for the traffic to calm down, and then go home.

About the author :​

Luong Nguyen An Dien is a journalist who has worked for the English editions of Thanh Nien and VnExpress newspapers since 2007. In 2014, he received a Fulbright scholarship from the US State Department to study for a Master's degree in journalism at Columbia Journalism School (New York). In May 2016, one day after graduating from Columbia, he received an award from the Foreign Press Association in New York, honoring young journalists for their achievements to date and their future contributions.

Under the pen name Dien Luong, he has had articles published in The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Guardian, The HuffPost, Al Jazeera, The Diplomat.

He is currently working at Zing.vn newspaper and teaching at RMIT University.

Good excerpt from the book:

“If people often compare life to a big stage in which each person has a different role, I truly believe that there is no big or small role, main or supporting role. There are roles that at first glance seem very “small”, very “supporting”, but make the audience remember more, longer than famous names. It would be lucky if in our lives each of us could once admire those humble but sparkling roles…”

Excerpt from Know What You Want Instead of Dreaming of Who You Are | Chapter 1 It's Okay to Not Be Famous!

“A person who truly knows the value of simplicity must have gone through all the arduous “complicated” processes. A good journalist must have very clear and concise writing and consider elaborate but empty words and sentences as enemies. A person who is sophisticated and experienced enough will truly believe that living an ordinary life is happiness. Ordinary, not extraordinary. Ordinary is not trivial.”

Excerpt from Life is Fast | Chapter 2 It's okay to not be famous!

“Artist Thanh Hoi is always haunted by the duty to do his job properly, that is, to be careful even in the smallest things. Ever since he was studying at the School of Dramatic Arts, he was haunted by the story of the professional courtesy of an unknown voiceover artist: Simply put, when there is a scene of pouring wine in a movie, outside this artist also has to pour something that makes the sound of water to match the sound in the scene. However, when that scene comes, this artist goes away for a long time. When he comes back, everyone in the film crew is very annoyed, asking where he went for so long. He replied: “I went to buy wine to pour the voiceover, where else did I go?” Everyone shouted: “Why bother, old man, if you pour the sound of water, it will be the same.” He replied: “You guys are talking nonsense, saying that means you don’t know anything. Wine has its own soul, so the way you pour it must be different. Pouring water is always wrong.” The story is just that short, but the meaning is heavy. Mr. Thanh Hoi concluded: "Because of that story, I always force myself to be extremely kind when doing my job."

Before becoming a name known to many parents of young readers my age and younger, Thanh Hoi spent nearly 10 years as an extra; many plays only had roles that required a simple “yes” and then ended. During those 10 years, because of his vast free time, he read a lot of literary works every day. He read to absorb, and read to imagine how he would act if he were that character. He imagined lying in a hammock, riding a bicycle, and probably imagined many other times that he couldn’t mention.

If there was Facebook back then and if Thanh Hoi had only gone there to complain all day about why he was so talented but life didn’t appreciate him, his career would have ended early. Life has been fair in recognizing his tireless efforts. But for me, his current fame is just an official certificate that life has given him. As for the recognition, he had it right from the time he was lying in a hammock, riding a bicycle, nurturing and nurturing the roles of his life. Because right then, he was already a decent artist.

Excerpt from Kindness with Passion | Chapter 3 It's okay to not be famous!

“The longer I live (although I am still very young), the more I realize the vanity and uselessness of relying on the “prestigious” label of the place I work or study to consider it as a brand that guarantees all actions and words. Just because you study at that prestigious school doesn’t mean you are right in everything you say or good at everything you do. Just because you work for that famous company doesn’t mean you will automatically be privileged over the rest of society. I continue to think simply like this: In addition to the minimum of having to prove it through actions, not brand labels, once you step out of the roof of the place you study or work, everyone must be subject to the same criteria for evaluating their attitudes and behaviors in society. Studying in the Ivy League, working for a good company but not lining up when going out, elbowing a pregnant woman in the stomach to be paid first at the supermarket, jumping into the elevator before it even opens, or opening the car door and throwing a Starbucks cup and straw on the street… will be worthy of hearing “you are very kind but we are sorry” in every field. Not to mention, it will also negatively affect the brand name that you are constantly exploiting. You have to feel sorry for it.”

Excerpt from Illusion of Power | Chapter 3 It's okay to not be famous!