This post was originally written in 2016
1. Life coach/Pastoral carer/Psychological health nurse
A few days ago I just came across a newspaper saying 17% of the pupils in Vietnam wanted to commit suicide according to a survey by the Ministry of Health (here is the link, in local language, sorry). Another article tells a story a father feels ashamed just because his kid got mark 9 while the rest of his class mark 10. Alah. Jesus. Buddha. Holy mama. If mark 9 is a shame, mom and dad would be buried deep down under mountains of shame and anger because of my transcript throughout 12 years. Anyway, the burden that netizens usually call “their kids-my kids” being put on young people is getting heavier and heavier. They learn hard to satisfy the pride of their parents and families rather than their curiosity and love for studying. Every year, thousands of undergraduates are thrown violently into the labour market; 63% are unemployed. They are forced to hide their degrees to sell papers, to work as porters, and to polish shoes.
Education is all-people business ~ everyone can voice their opinions but no one asks what the young people want to do. Yes, simply no one cares at all. I found myself damn lucky when I am able to force myself into a somehow academic route and somehow survive in such world until now. But one truth that I can never run away from is I have always been feeling empty and filled up with questions which are seen “oblivious” ~”Why can’t I?” “Because no one does.”
An unofficial survey in 2015 showed that 20 million Vietnamese were suffering from one or two neural health problems ranging from being stressed, depressed to psychological disorders. Yet, being in need of psychological health care may be mistaken of “being psycho” here, which explains why psychological health has been ignored for years.
So, maybe a life coach is a key to the issue. Those who are interested in psychology and life improvement but tired of overoptimistic self-help books can do research and work on this pathway. If you own a degree on psychology, even better. If not, maybe utilise other sources and/or your talents in arts, writing, photography, or ICT and create something fun which engages people with life and let them know outside there is still someone that is willing to have a pep talk with them.
2. English teacher
Don’t laugh. Nearly one decade ago, my translation teacher told my class that we would be unemployed sooner or later because more and more people could speak English as their second mother tongue. I respect my teacher but, sorry Sir, you are sooo wrong this time.
And with the help of technology now, there is a variety of ways for you to become an English teacher now while unnecessarily organising a physical classroom. By the way, quality enjoys the same variety though.
It strikes me that teaching foreign languages and English specifically is a life buoy for so many ppl who could be potential clients of those who do the first job.
3. Psychic/Card reader/Astrologer
Told you earlier, life today is a mess. Life here is a messy mess. Everything can be an amazing maze. The education system cannot give you a clear vision for your future. The social norms cannot give you freedom to fail. The political climate cannot make you feel secure to be a happy-go-lucky idiot. The economy refuses you if you have no money. The academia never accepts neither simple-minded persons who try to be deep nor big minds who cannot simplify things. The showbiz of course is not a place for a gentle soul screaming “I will die for pure arts.” In short, you are lost.
Karl Marx said something like, when political power is lost is the reign of faith, belief, religion, or spiritual power. People feel so vulnerable and they are rushing to seek for peace from somewhere else than their secular life. Pagodas, temples, shrines and now fortune tellers using taro, horoscopes and whatsoever sounding exotic. And yes, such become hot hot hot jobs. Even its triumph radiates to other sectors like publishing industry for example. Dozens of books on horoscopes have been published. Just weave through the narrow street of Dinh Le, you will immediately find yourself lost in an ocean of future telling publications showing a deep fusion of East and West culture: books on Lao Tzu’s principles lying side by side series of “tell-me-your-rising-star-I’ll-tell-you-who-you-are”.
So, if you are interested in astrology, invest your time and energy and intellectual to read and research and learn seriously. You can make money from such knowledge. If you are lucky enough to be the diviner, gosh, use your power wisely and who knows what you can get. I am not kidding.
4. Celebrities
Never ever before has becoming a celebrity as easy as today. Chris Rojek suggested three main categories of celebrities: background-based (like you are automatically a celebrity if you are born to the Royal); talent-based (like David Beckham!); media-based (like singer Dropping Tears – Lệ Rơi here) and one more version of fame is being notorious (commit a crime and you will be wanted).
You have big boobs? Good! Or you know someone that has big boobs and you can film or take pic of her showing her big boobs? Too good! You have high speed internet connection right in your hand? OMG, do smt!
You have a weight problem? Too much potential!
Your spouse got an affair? Upload a photo of you being alone and write a so-deep status. You are automatically included in the main cast of a hot hot hot drama which can gain at least 1K likes and hundreds of thousands of comments and views.
The situation here is the whole society is fed up with hesitant political moves of the government regarding the South China Sea conflict, rampant corruption and rat race within the national leaders purely for personal benefits. So people want to forget such headaches.
The more unstable a society is, the more people’s celebrities it has. They are people’s celebrities, national treasures because undoubtedly thanks to these people, the whole society does not have headache to think about war, unemployment, food security, human rights… I mean, what’s the point thinking about such issues when you are not expected to solve them?
So, basically as long as you want to benefit other people than yourself only, be a celebrity. All you need is loving hearing (and creating) noises.
Thu Ngo
13th January 2016