The Beauty of Humanity Movement (14 page)

Above all, his future wife must show great respect to Old Man H
ng. The old man is patriarch of their family in a unique and complicated way, beyond blood. T
s father has known Old Man H
ng since boyhood, since before he was Old Man and was just H
ng. He is the one who kept Grandfather Ðạo’s flame burning, holding it close through decades of poverty and war, and waiting patiently for the day when he could share it and pass it on.

Old Man H
ng has been present at every important occasion of T
s life. From his birth to every Tet holiday to his graduation. Given how much the old man seems to have aged over the past few months, T
worries the remaining occasions are numbered. He means no disrespect to Grandfather Ðạo, but on such occasions, and even in the day-to-day, T
feels H
ng to be more of a real grandfather to him than the legendary poet whose image sits enshrined on an overturned crate inside H
ng’s rickety old shack on the shore of a manky pond.

Introducing a girl to Old Man H
ng would be the ultimate test of her moral character. H
ng is poorer than poor, and the wrong girl would be put off by the association and might begin to worry about the security of her future. Even if T
is ashamed by the old man’s poverty himself at times, the truth is, T
is looking for someone who is a better person than he.