I am a beneficiary of Dr. Ray Wu's visionary CUSBEA (China United States Biochemistry Examination and Application) program that allowed some 400 Chinese students to come to USA for Ph.D studies in the 1980's. Today, almost all of us are actively engaging in biomedical research in USA, China and elsewhere. Many have attained the once coveted professorship in premiere institutions of higher learning. Some occupy leadership positions of increasing influence in the biopharmaceutical industry. Quite a few have laid hold of prized acclaim to fame in their conquest of biosciences' cutting edge frontiers.
Dr. Ray Wu left us just before Valentine's Day. In a sense, he was valentine and benefactor to all CUSBEA fellows. Shortly after China opened her door to the West, Dr. Ray Wu, an accomplished geneticist and Cornell University professor whose pioneering innovation in DNA sequencing inspired Sanger to achieve Nobel prize winning breakthrough, petitioned Chinese authority to send some of the top young minds to USA for advanced study. CUSBEA program was thus born, as were the physics CUSPEA and chemistry CGP programs championed by others in the same decade.
The CUSBEA program abruptly ceased when the 1989 student-led pro-democracy movement was crushed in Beijing. CUSBEA fellows found themselves emotionally torn and physically stranded, reluctant to return to their bruised motherland. A few years later when the memory of pain subsided, CUBSEA fellows began journeying back for family visitation, academic exchanges, and even permanent resettlement in China. Time apparently is the tried and true healer of all pains.
Our hearts now pain again, but for a different kind. We grieve with the family and friends of Dr. Ray Wu. If one's legacy can be measured by what becomes of his influence, then all CUSBEA fellows stand to testify to the great vision and insight of Dr. Ray Wu. Those of us who are fortunate to be very close to him have been telling us how meek and humble a gentleman Dr. Ray Wu was. Indeed that was the first impression I got when I saw him for the first and last time during a reunion last year in Beijing.
Dr. Ray Wu did not really leave us. His kindred spirit indwells among us and impels us to take altruistic interest in others' well being. He reminds me of Christ whom I preach so often. My prayer is this: We long to meet him again, but for the first time by the pearly gate of heaven when we will have finished our race on Earth. May his soul find the blessed eternal peace.
Friday, February 22, 2008
Sunday, February 10, 2008
More Tragedy Strikes the Community
Today I learned of another depression-driven suicide in our community.
A chemist went to his workplace and ended his life there, leaving behind his parents, brother, wife and two young children. He had been depressed for at least half a year, under stress from work and family.
I was told that he came to my church a second time last weekend. He made the pivotal decision to accept Christ at the end of a gospel class. I could not imagine what went through his mind before he decided to leave this world of pain and tribulation. I hope he prayed and called onto the name of the Almighty God before his self-timed departure.
Many adults have experienced depression in this pressure-cooking society. Some even attempted suicide. What drives depressed people to the point of no return? The present world apparently has lost all its appeals to those on the verge of suicide. How best to prevent it become a vital pastoral and counseling issue.
If you ever feel depressed, please talk it out to your trusted friends or a church pastor. Their help can lift you up from the valley of despair and depression to the mountaintop of hope and joy.
A chemist went to his workplace and ended his life there, leaving behind his parents, brother, wife and two young children. He had been depressed for at least half a year, under stress from work and family.
I was told that he came to my church a second time last weekend. He made the pivotal decision to accept Christ at the end of a gospel class. I could not imagine what went through his mind before he decided to leave this world of pain and tribulation. I hope he prayed and called onto the name of the Almighty God before his self-timed departure.
Many adults have experienced depression in this pressure-cooking society. Some even attempted suicide. What drives depressed people to the point of no return? The present world apparently has lost all its appeals to those on the verge of suicide. How best to prevent it become a vital pastoral and counseling issue.
If you ever feel depressed, please talk it out to your trusted friends or a church pastor. Their help can lift you up from the valley of despair and depression to the mountaintop of hope and joy.
Saturday, February 9, 2008
A Life Cut Short
I attended a funeral today after last night's Chinese New Year celebration during church fellowship. It was an emotional farewell.
Paul was a hardworking and easygoing family man. His life was cut short under the unbearable weight of depression following type II diabetes diagnosis about four years ago. His sudden departure early in the week made many mourners grapple deeper with the meaning of life. His children, wife, siblings, and friends, while choking back tears, remembered a kindhearted man who loved photography and made his customers as photogenic as technically possible. Pastor Chan, having battled his own type II diabetes for a decade, readily identified with Paul in the uphill daily struggle. Paul's wife thanked everyone and asked for understanding if she calls for help as she copes with Paul's untimely death. She implored us to openly share our inner feelings with loved ones whenever feeling pressured in life.
I learned more about Paul's life during his funeral than before. I'd rather see him snapping the camera and living to a much older age than 56. Nonetheless, I admire his courage to take the painful exit off life's busy highway. Now he is resting in eternal peace that we all long for after our earthly toil.
Before leaving, I consoled the family with words such as "The Lord is our hope" and "Be strong". I confided with the grieving 18-year old young man that my father died when I was 15. That was almost 30 years ago.
Life goes on. Life must continue. Say cheez and smile, brother Paul.
Paul was a hardworking and easygoing family man. His life was cut short under the unbearable weight of depression following type II diabetes diagnosis about four years ago. His sudden departure early in the week made many mourners grapple deeper with the meaning of life. His children, wife, siblings, and friends, while choking back tears, remembered a kindhearted man who loved photography and made his customers as photogenic as technically possible. Pastor Chan, having battled his own type II diabetes for a decade, readily identified with Paul in the uphill daily struggle. Paul's wife thanked everyone and asked for understanding if she calls for help as she copes with Paul's untimely death. She implored us to openly share our inner feelings with loved ones whenever feeling pressured in life.
I learned more about Paul's life during his funeral than before. I'd rather see him snapping the camera and living to a much older age than 56. Nonetheless, I admire his courage to take the painful exit off life's busy highway. Now he is resting in eternal peace that we all long for after our earthly toil.
Before leaving, I consoled the family with words such as "The Lord is our hope" and "Be strong". I confided with the grieving 18-year old young man that my father died when I was 15. That was almost 30 years ago.
Life goes on. Life must continue. Say cheez and smile, brother Paul.
Sunday, February 3, 2008
A Super Weekend
This weekend is absolutely super, for more than one reason.
First of all, it is the XLII superbowl weekend. The match between the undefeated favorite Patriots and the underdog Giants was nothing short of being breathtaking, all the way to the last second. The two teams each had a fruitful first scoring drive during the first quarter and the beginning of the second quarter. But the score was unchanged at 3:7 to Patriots' advantage for two quarters, giving the same colleague in our betting pool a rare double win for guessing correctly both the half time and third quarter score. The defense on both sides was truly remarkable. The fourth quarter saw the seesaw action between two teams, changing the lead three times in the last quarter, a superbowl record. To me, the single most impressive play in the winning drive was Giants' overhead reception for third down conversion under the sandwiching tackles from Patriots. TV commentators billed this superbowl as the best of all time, topping the previous best between Bills vs. Giants (19:20) in early 1991's superbowl XXV.
I could not help but noticing the coincidence between the two best superbowl games. I began to love watching football soon after I relocated to New Jersey from Buffalo. I was disappointed by Bills' narrow loss to Giants in the last four seconds of the XXV game, despite the fact that both were my home teams. Bills later entered into superbowl three more times in the 1990's but came back empty handed. Seventeen years later, two weeks after I relocated back to New Jersey from Cambridge, I witnessed another great superbowl match, again between two home teams. Sadly, Patriots lost their only and most important game of the season, again narrowly.
The second cause for a super weekend came from my children. My younger daughter came home Friday with a report card for the second marking period, maintaining all As (95-100). My elder daughter won second place in the county high schools' mile-long race for girls on Saturday. My son successfully defended his clarinet first chair title in the 6-county regional intermediate band tryout, besting some 70 clarinetists and outscoring his closest rival by ~8%. Needless to say, my wife and I take great pride in the academic, athletic, and musical accomplishments by our children. Heartfelt thanks go to their teachers and coaches.
Presidential contenders will find another reason for this super weekend. Their prospect of residing in the White House hangs in the balance of the fast coming Super Tuesday's primaries and caucuses in 24 states across the nation.
First of all, it is the XLII superbowl weekend. The match between the undefeated favorite Patriots and the underdog Giants was nothing short of being breathtaking, all the way to the last second. The two teams each had a fruitful first scoring drive during the first quarter and the beginning of the second quarter. But the score was unchanged at 3:7 to Patriots' advantage for two quarters, giving the same colleague in our betting pool a rare double win for guessing correctly both the half time and third quarter score. The defense on both sides was truly remarkable. The fourth quarter saw the seesaw action between two teams, changing the lead three times in the last quarter, a superbowl record. To me, the single most impressive play in the winning drive was Giants' overhead reception for third down conversion under the sandwiching tackles from Patriots. TV commentators billed this superbowl as the best of all time, topping the previous best between Bills vs. Giants (19:20) in early 1991's superbowl XXV.
I could not help but noticing the coincidence between the two best superbowl games. I began to love watching football soon after I relocated to New Jersey from Buffalo. I was disappointed by Bills' narrow loss to Giants in the last four seconds of the XXV game, despite the fact that both were my home teams. Bills later entered into superbowl three more times in the 1990's but came back empty handed. Seventeen years later, two weeks after I relocated back to New Jersey from Cambridge, I witnessed another great superbowl match, again between two home teams. Sadly, Patriots lost their only and most important game of the season, again narrowly.
The second cause for a super weekend came from my children. My younger daughter came home Friday with a report card for the second marking period, maintaining all As (95-100). My elder daughter won second place in the county high schools' mile-long race for girls on Saturday. My son successfully defended his clarinet first chair title in the 6-county regional intermediate band tryout, besting some 70 clarinetists and outscoring his closest rival by ~8%. Needless to say, my wife and I take great pride in the academic, athletic, and musical accomplishments by our children. Heartfelt thanks go to their teachers and coaches.
Presidential contenders will find another reason for this super weekend. Their prospect of residing in the White House hangs in the balance of the fast coming Super Tuesday's primaries and caucuses in 24 states across the nation.
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