每日社评0617 我的父亲

                                                                                                                                             图片来源： 路透社

我的父亲

今天是父亲节,也是一个星期天,我来到办公室查看环球第一银行工地上的大吊车,心中涌起无限的感动,这一切应该从父亲说起。

父亲一生的跌宕起伏，让我对人生有了更深刻的感悟。他经歷了战争之苦难,流离失所的辛酸，但他仍然没有放弃对孩子之教育，让我们家人有机会来到美国。

虽然父亲已经去世多年,他在為我获得[海外优秀青年奖]时亲笔為我题词的赠语一直悬掛在办公室墙上，他的秀丽挺拔之毛笔手书是我每天必看到的一幕。

当年抗战时期,家乡云南龙陵被日本军佔领之后,父亲带着新婚不久之新娘逃到大理城外,大姐就在抗战胜利时出生了,当他们带着喜悦之心情回到家乡时父亲在二十多岁当上了镇长。但是好景不长，国共内战又起。他又隻身远走他乡，𠄘受着妻离子散之苦,两年后母亲带着幼子女三人在马背上翻山越岭到达穷乡贫困之缅北村庄，开始了困苦之异乡生活。他的人生可说落到谷底,但是父亲那手气势磅薄，笔势雄健之书法，还是在亲友们之婚丧喜庆之大场面中得予发挥,即便是在潦困之家境中,父亲还是没有让我輟学。多年后他在中年时回到臺湾，他虽嚐试回到公职,但已时过境迁,他因有志难伸,心境忧鬱而英年早逝,临终时对我说：“蔚华要争气噢!”

多少年来,我牢记着父亲之训示,不论从工读生一直到了美国唸书，创业几乎每天都在思考自已的未来. 如何做一个对社会有用的人。上月回到了父母曾住过的中壢眷村，我向乡亲们表达了深切之感激,这𠆤小镇事实上改写了我们家族之歷史。

生我育我爱我们之父母,是多麼伟大之恩泽,俗称天下无不是之父母,我们向所有天下的父亲表示最衷心之祝福。

我们家人都来到美国,最遗憾的是父亲从未踏上这块土地,但是他的音容笑貌和挺拔高大之身影永远留在我们的心中。

My Father

It’s Father’s Day again, and although my father has been gone for many years, his inscription for my Overseas Outstanding Youth Award still hangs on my office wall. His elegant and bold calligraphy is something I see every day.

Today, being a Sunday, I came to the office to check on the large crane at the Global One Bank construction site. A wave of emotion washed over me. It all came back to my father.

During the war of Resistance Against Japan, my hometown of Longling, Yunan, was occupied by the Japanese army. My father with his young wife, fled to the outskirts of Dali City, where my elder sister Lily was born at the end of the war. Returning with the joy, my dad he became the town's mayor in his early twenties. However, good times were short-lived as the civil war broke out, forcing him to flee alone. He endured the hardship of separation from his wife and kids. Two years later, my mother, carrying the three of us on  horseback, crossed the mountains and ridge, arriving at the remote village in northern Myanmar where our family began a life of hardship and displacement in a foreign land.

Father’s life had hit rock bottom, yet his calligraphy, characterized by its bold and vigorous strokes, still found its place in the grand celebration of friends and relatives.

Despite our family‘s financial struggles, my father never allowed me to drop out of school. Years later he returned  to Taiwan in his middle age, though he attempted to re-enter the workforce, the times had changed. Feeling his talents were washed and his future bleak, he passed away just as he reached sixty years old. His final words to me were, ”Wea Hwa, you must strive for success."

For many years, I have kept my father’s words close to my heart. From the days as an intern at the radio station, to my studies in school and entrepreneurship, I have constantly pondered my future and how to become someone who contributes to society.

Last month my wife and I returned to Taiwan and visited the village of Chung Cheng where my parents once lived and expressed our deepest gratitude  to the villagers. This small town, in essence, rewrote our family’s history.