There is a question that has occupied philosophers across cultures and centuries: what does it mean to live in a world where everything changes, and nothing lasts?
Perhaps human beings have wrestled with this question since the dawn of history. Standing before towering mountains, gazing across the vast ocean, or looking up into a sky stretching endlessly above open plains, people have long experienced the same unsettling realization. Faced with the boundlessness of the world, we become acutely aware of our own smallness, fragility, and uncertainty.
Yet impermanence raises uncomfortable questions. If everything is transient, if human life is finite, if moments of happiness pass as fleetingly as a shooting star across the night sky, why do we become so attached to success and failure, glory and humiliation? If everything ultimately returns to dust, if every ending is unavoidable, do the moments we have lived become meaningless? Do all our efforts dissolve into nothingness?
I do not believe so.
Human life may be short. No individual can reach the end of truth or fully comprehend the infinite ocean of knowledge. Yet every small step taken by one person leaves a mark. It becomes part of something larger, carried forward by those who come after. Every effort, however modest, is amplified by countless others. What appears insignificant in isolation acquires meaning through continuity. The contribution of a single individual may be small. The inheritance of generations is not. Humanity’s greatest achievements have always been collective endeavors stretching across time.
Einstein would never have developed the theory of relativity without the efforts of Albert Michelson and Edward Morley in conducting the famous Michelson–Morley experiment. Without Marxism, there would have been no Leninist theory of national liberation, no Russian Revolution, and humanity might still have remained submerged in the barbaric system of colonialism.
The real challenge is not finiteness itself. During a life that lasted fewer than 30 years, Vu Trong Phung left Vietnamese literature an extraordinary legacy. Luu Quang Vu passed away at the height of his creative powers, yet still left future generations with plays and poems that continue to move audiences today. What significance does the limited span of existence really have if each moment has been fully lived? Not everyone can build a magnificent castle. But every brick laid today may become part of the foundation for the structures of tomorrow. Happiness is not found at the destination but along the road itself. Che Guevara was not mistaken when he arrived at this reflection during a life that lasted only 39 years.
Buddhist philosophy speaks of an endless cycle in which every ending contains a beginning. Marxist dialectics tells a story of continuity and development: a thing may cease to exist as a complete entity, but that does not mean it disappears. It leaves traces behind. It evolves. It becomes part of something new.
No one taxes dreams. We are therefore free to dream of distant destinations and achievements capable of shaking the world. Yet whether those dreams are ultimately realized is not what matters most. What matters is what we have done and how we have struggled along the journey towards them.
Einstein spent much of his life searching for a unified field theory. The nurse who attended him found that as he drew his final breath, he was still holding a sheet of paper covered with numbers and symbols connected to the hypothesis he had pursued throughout his life. No unified field theory exists to this day. Yet the research Einstein devoted to that pursuit may one day provide the foundation for future scientific discoveries.
And so it does not matter how long we exist. Nor does it matter whether we ultimately reach the destination we have set for ourselves. What matters is how much happiness we have found, and what we have managed to contribute, however small, on the road towards it.
I am writing these lines after learning that the Saigon Times Group will cease operations after July 1, 2026.
When I mentioned the news on Facebook, a friend immediately responded: “What a pity. Such a valuable magazine, with so much knowledge.”
And it is a pity indeed. Among the countless publications today, the Saigon Times Group has carved out a distinct place in readers’ hearts as a publication capable of delivering timely reporting while maintaining depth, originality and fresh perspectives. Yet knowledge does not disappear.
The magazine has fulfilled its mission under the name Saigon Times Group, but that does not mean the story ends here. The knowledge the publication has generated and shared over more than 35 years will continue to spread. It will be inherited by generations of writers and readers, both today and in the future.
Thirty-five years is only the blink of an eye. But what does it matter? For all the sadness that accompanies this farewell, those who helped build the Saigon Times Group have every reason to feel a sense of fulfillment.
Perhaps the final moments spent together by generations of editors, reporters, and staff will remain among the most unforgettable memories of their lives.
Farewell.
(*) University of Economics and Law, Vietnam National University HCMC
