I’ve stopped complaining for quite a while now to begin writing about this topic.
For someone from a family that could hardly be called well-off, there were truly many things to complain about. When I was a child, I would complain about why my friends got to eat delicious meals, while I only had 500 VND—just enough for a plain baguette for breakfast. That was during my elementary school years.
As I got a bit older, I started to notice that my friends had money to go out, play games, or roller skate, while I could barely afford to upgrade my breakfast from a plain baguette to a bowl of instant noodles during middle school.
By the time I got to university, I had a huge shock on the first day of class when the professor asked, 'Is there anyone here who attended a specialized school in computer science or won city, provincial, or national competitions?' At that point, I didn’t even know the first thing about programming. And, as quick as lightning, before I could even finish processing the question, more than half the class had already raised their hands. WTH? How could my classmates, who were recently joined the university with me, be so incredibly skilled while I was completely clueless about programming and computers? My family didn’t even own an old computer.
In a flash, I graduated from university and started working. This is when the real pressure of life began, as I no longer had my parents’ financial support and had to rely on myself. My parents kept saying, 'Work hard to save money and buy a house.' At this point, I could only remain silent because I didn’t even have enough money for food, let alone to buy a house. When I finally managed to save a bit, I discovered that the price of an apartment was 26 million VND per square meter, and the building hadn’t even laid its foundation. At that time, gold was around 35 million VND per tael.
After learning this, I reluctantly asked my parents how much they paid for their house, only to find out it was the equivalent of 0.11 a mace of gold per square meter (back then, one mace of gold was about 280,000 VND). At this point, my complaints peaked. How could the government let housing prices skyrocket like this?
A few days ago, I watched a video reporting on housing prices and found out that similar houses are now priced at 45 million VND per square meter—almost double what I paid when I started looking for a house. What does this mean? It means that the next generation, specifically Gen Z, will have to pay twice as much as Millennials (my generation) to own a house.
So, stop complaining and focus on solving your own problems.