S.H. Ho College eNewsletter

S.H. Ho College's High Table Dinner on 20 February had Dr. Philemon Choi Yuen-wan, Hon. General Secretary of Breakthrough, to speak on effective ways to serve those in need. After the "5.12" great earthquake in Sichuan, Dr. Choi and his team entered into the disastrous areas to conduct training in traumatic psychological rehabilitation. They provided counselling services that attended to the people's mental, psychological and spiritual needs, and helped them rebuild inner strength and restore confidence in life.

Dr. Choi emphasized the importance of vision: vision is to see with your inner eyes, to see the invisible, to see beyond your immediate needs and gains. He believes everyone has to attend to his or her inner needs: mental, psychological, social and spiritual, that is the why of our lives. "Without vision, people perish." If you go out for a lot of activities but do not know what you are doing, and why you are doing it, it is "excellence without a soul".

Dr. Choi told a story back in Sichuan that has changed his life: He met a 30-year-old man who hadn't slept or eaten for two weeks. Whenever he closed his eyes, the same scene came back. "Suddenly the earth turned upside down. And right in front of my eyes, my village, my house, within seconds, disappeared. My father, my mother, my wife, my 6-year-old son, all gone." Dr. Choi was totally shattered and did not know how to respond except for holding the man's hand. When Dr. Choi was about to leave, the man said: "Can I call you dad? Now I have lost all my close ones." And his son said: "You know, he is my dad." "Then you are my other brother!" At that moment, said Dr. Choi, he could feel his inner fire reignited. Compassion is to feel the suffering together. To serve is to embrace suffering together with people out there.