This is the Ho Chi Minh Fine Arts Museum. It’s a beautiful old building that was built around 1929 (I think) and houses ancient art and decorative wear. We were lucky enough to be able to get there my last day in HCM and explore.

It did make us sad though that the museum wasn’t maintained. It’s in 3 gorgeous buildings but they weren’t well lit, it was dusty, the lifts were not operating, and there was litter all around. While it did add an air of oldness, it wasn’t a good old and the antiques housed in them are bound to deteriorate faster.

I guess it’s made me think of preservation. That no matter something’s beauty is, if you don’t take the steps to make sure it’s protected, it will go the way of ruin.

And isn’t that the rules of life? We have to take steps to make sure we keep something beautiful the way it is. Even if it changes it, it may add more character to it, like when natural leather wears in time, where the natural scratches and dulling in some places make it more interesting. Life is bound to scratch us up here and there, but if we do well enough by ourselves and others, we will be able to keep things beautiful.

How do you make sure to protect the beauty around you and in your life?