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This year I spent New Year's Eve at
my dear friend, Pu Ying's home in Cleveland. It was cold with some
flurries of snow but about 30 people braved the weather to celebrate
the passing of 2017 and to welcome 2018 in the home of Pu Ying's on
the outskirts of Cleveland. They were mostly Chinese with the
exception of Pu Ying's first English teacher and a lady car salesman
where Pu Ying recently bought her car. There were children as well
as adults. Young and old filled the room with a festive air. We were
there to say goodbye to 2017, whether it was a good year or not, it
is already history. We were there to welcome 2018 and hope it will
treat us kindly. The past is history and we cannot change it. We
look forward with great expectation that 2018 will bring us health
and happiness, prosperity and well being, that our wishes will come
true and our friends will increase. With the beginning of another
new year, we feel we are writing a new page on a clean slate. We who
are older cannot help but bemoan the fast passage of each year. But
the young people have so much to look forward to. We all greet the
new year with a measure of expectation and hope. A new start is
always good.
Pu Ying prepared a lot of food and her friends also
brought potluck so that the table was laden with an abundance of
delicious food. When it comes to eating, one can hardly beat the
Chinese! We drank the wassail bowl and wish each other good fortune
in the coming year. New beginnings always portend good luck and
fortune. May we start off 2018 with no regrets but only a sense of
auspicious beginnings. Out with the old and in with the new.
We hope we are a little wiser and learned from our mistakes of the
past year.
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唐可老師和來自加拿大的朋友一起觀看騎士隊籃球比賽
We hope we forged new friendships while renewing old ones and made
wise decisions for the coming year. We pray for good health and
success in business and relationships. We can hope and do our best
but we know that ultimately 2018 is in the hand of God. With each
passing year we pray that we grow wiser and closer to our Maker. We
relinquish both the good and the bad of 2017 into his hands and know
that he has a new page for us. Stepping into the future with God
means we can step without fear.
Whatever befalls, at the end of 2018, we will give thanks to Him
who preserve us for another year.
－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－
唐可老師和凱文
On a wintry day, my friend Pu Ying took
me to Philadelphia to see her dear friend Caiwen who was blind since
infancy. It was a real inspiration to meet Caiwan who is a petite
lady in her early 70's. Ciawan is not one to inspire pity. She is
totally self sufficient and independent. She does not view her
blindness as a handicap. She lives a normal life like any of us who
can see. She loves life, loves people, and is in touch with what is
going on around her. She lives in a very big old house of several
floors in the suburbs of Philadelphia, parts of which are rented out
to tenants. On the day we visited her, it so happened that no
tenants were home. So we had the huge living room to ourselves, at
the end of which is an upright piano. And close to the piano is a
huge Christmas tree that reaches to the ceiling. Sofas lined the
opposite sides of the walls which would allow at least over a dozen
people to be seated facing one another to carry on lively
conversations. This living room is large and uncluttered to the
right of the entrance hallway. It has clean, dark wood floor. Across
the hallway from it is a smaller dining room, which leads into the
kitchen. Caiwen modeled for us the green frog costume which she made
for herself. This proves she sews a lot better than many people with
sight. She also showed me a beautiful patchwork quilt which she has
made. Amazing!
When one's eyes are bright from within, the loss of one's sight is not
too great a tragedy. One does not tend to feel sorry for Caiwen
because she does not feel sorry for herself. One however cannot help
but admire her indomitable spirit. She has done more with her life
than many who can see.
Her life is full and she is always busy. She is not out of touch with a
world she cannot see. I am sure her heart's eyes see much and I pray
they see what is beautiful and pure and be blind to what is ugly and
contaminated.
Caiwen has not only learned to cope but she has mastered her
destiny so one can only be full of admiration for her but has no
cause to feel sorry for her. Would that we all have vision like she
does! |
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